Slayers Series: Book 2: Watching You
by Aussie
Summary: Sequel to New Beginnings. Buffy and Faith keep fleeing from the Watchers Council as they come after them. Willow's little outburst may cost her her life. And what does Tara have in store for Willow? Much more. R/R please!
1. Prologue

Previously in the Slayers Series  
Excerpt is taken from the last page of New Beginnings, the first book in the three book trilogy.  
  
On the way to the hospital, on the mission to capture the Slayers, Ryan had told the rest of the team that two of Buffy's friends were in the hospital and that one wasn't likely to wake up. It was at this time that Ryan felt pure and utter sorrow for the Slayer called Buffy. He determined that if he could do anything about it, he would.  
  
Buffy followed Faith through the hospital, dodging the obstacles she put in the way. Buffy now knew that Faith was criminally insane again, the fact that she was ready to kill the man out in the front of the hospital told her that. Buffy was full of hatred towards Faith for telling her friends the one thing she desperately didn't want them to find out. She had defeated Faith once before, but that was before she had been put through, what Buffy could only guess, months of training with Michael. She also didn't have superpowers then. Buffy was glad and afraid of what happened next; she saw Faith turn down a dead end corridor. Buffy knew it was a dead end as it was the corridor that Willow and Tara had been put in. Buffy didn't want to confront Faith, but at the same time, she wanted vengeance for what Faith had done. All of her friends had been through enough, they didn't need to go through the burden knowing that they had pulled her out of heaven. By Faith turning down the dead end corridor, it only made one thing clear. There was going to be a fight that only one Slayer would walk away from.   
  
Faith stopped at the dead end. There was no way out. She turned around only to see Buffy standing ten metres away from her. She could see the grim determination in her eyes. She then realised that there would only be one Slayer that walked away from this fight, and it was going to be her.   
Buffy looked at Faith, and saw that she was determined to walk away from the fight. Before Buffy even had any time to try and speak to Faith, she was running at her. Buffy saw Faith run beside the wall, towards Buffy. When she had covered three quarters of the distance between them, Faith jumped up and ran along the wall for two steps, and then kicked out off the wall, and sent her foot into Buffy's head. Buffy went crashing into the other wall with the force of the blow. She had no idea how Faith had done that, and she didn't want to find out as at that moment in time, Faith had driven Buffy over the edge.  
Faith had only recovered from the kick she gave Buffy when she was punched in the gut. She looked up and saw a fist coming for her face. She didn't have enough time to dodge it, and it hit her right in the eye. When the fist had gone, and she could see again, she saw Buffy.   
Buffy successfully delivered around five punches before Faith had the chance to react. On the seventh punch, Faith blocked it. Buffy quickly delivered two punches, then brought her knee up into Faith's side, and then punched her again. Before Faith had time to recover, Buffy spun around anticlockwise and at the last moment, jumped, delivering a round-a-house kick to the side of Faith's head, sending her towards the left hand wall. Before she crashed into the wall, Buffy stuck her leg out, and tripped Faith. She crashed to the ground and her head hit directly on the wall. Buffy wasn't sure if she could keep fighting. She was dizzy from all the blows to the head she had received, and she was on the verge of exhaustion.  
  
They pulled up in three vans outside the hospital. He could see that a large crowd had formed out the front of the hospital and was now dispersing. He and all his team mates had a long black leather duster on, as well as a black shirt, and black trousers. Each of them was carrying a Steyr rifle. As Rex thought about it, they looked a bit like terrorists. He put on his Balaclava as they marched through the crowd and into the hospital. He saw all of Buffy's friends out the front of the hospital, so it was obvious that the Slayers were here.   
  
Faith was exhausted from the fight with Buffy, and she didn't know if she could go on any more. Old injuries had played up, and she was sore. She had backed away from Buffy, and was now trapped in the end of the hall. Buffy marched towards her, ready to fight. Faith backed away slowly as Buffy came towards her, and then at the last moment, gathered herself up and quickly delivered a snap kick to Buffy's mid section. Buffy lurched over, but quickly recovered herself, and as Faith went to punch her, Buffy grabbed her arm and threw her into the nearest room, which was thankfully deserted. Faith stumbled as Buffy threw her into the room, and she landed face first on the floor. She could see Buffy coming, and when she was in range, Faith grabbed both of Buffy's legs between hers and twisted, sending Buffy onto the ground beside her. She started to get up when she heard shouting, and it sounded like it was at them.  
"Get down on the ground. Get down on the ground!" a whole heap of men shouted as they entered the room and surrounded the two Slayers.   
"No body move, and no one gets shot," another of them said. They all had rifles pointing towards both of the Slayers.   
"By the order of the Watchers Council, you two are to be taken back to England. Necessary measures will be taken upon you two after you have been evaluated by the Council. Do you understand," one of them said in a cold, methodical voice. Faith and Buffy just nodded and looked at each other. 


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Buffy had no idea how she was going to get out of the situation. There were six heavily armed men, all with guns pointing at her, as well as another Slayer who hated her lying on the floor right beside her. She looked up at the men, all of them weren't going to falter, and by the way they acted and held their weapons, she could tell that they were the best. She counted six of them. She looked towards Faith, who had a pure look of hopelessness in her eyes. She didn't know what to do. Buffy had never seen Faith like that before, and probably wouldn't see her in that condition again. She looked at Faith, and Faith nodded, signalling that she was ready to help Buffy take them down.   
"Hands behind your back," one of them said. Buffy and Faith complied. When one of the men bent down to put handcuffs around Faith's wrists, she reached up and grabbed the back of his head and slammed it onto the floor. As soon as Buffy saw that, she rolled over and kicked the closest assassin to her. Using the momentum of the kick, Buffy kept rolling and got up onto her feet. She looked over to Faith and saw that she had just rammed another Assassin into the wall.  
Buffy ducked as one of the Assassins tried to punch her. She stayed crouched and started pummelling the Assassin in the stomach. She was extremely surprised when the Assassin started blocking her blows. Obviously, these people were trained in hand to hand combat. Buffy punched out at the person firstly with her left hand, and then with her right, and then she kneed him in the ribcage. He bent over, and Buffy sent him into the wall with a well placed snap-kick to the mid section.   
Buffy was having a hard time getting any blows through to the Assassin she was fighting. He knew how to block her every move, and he was even returning some of them back. He was almost as strong as her, but not strong enough. ­Buffy had grabbed one of his punches. The Assassin was trying to resist, but Buffy hurled him towards the wall. She looked around and saw another Assassin getting up from where she had knocked him down. It was the same one she had snap-kicked. A quick glance over at Faith told her that she wasn't doing much better. She was fed up with fighting, and with all her power, she delivered a round-a-house kick to the Assassin. Buffy heard a sickening crack as her kick broke his cheekbone, and broke and dislocated his jaw. He fell to the ground screaming. She went over to help Faith, who had knocked one of the Assassins unconscious. Buffy was almost there when Faith elbowed the man in the stomach and then jumped up and sent her elbow into the middle of the back of his head. Buffy heard the crack and knew that the man would be lucky if he didn't wake up with brain damage. Buffy and Faith glanced at each other, and something in their eyes told the other that they didn't want to fight at that moment. Buffy and Faith walked out the door, only to find another Assassin waiting for them with his gun raised.   
"Stay back," he said with an Australian accent. Buffy noticed that he was holding the gun limply, which indicated that he had been injured. The slayers glared at him, ready to make a move, but the Assassin did something totally unexpected. He lowered his gun and pointed down the hall towards the exit. Buffy and Faith had only taken two steps when they saw more Assassins coming down the hallway. In an instant, Faith had grabbed her knife out of the back of her pants and raced around behind the Australian Assassin. She held the knife to his neck.  
"If you want this man to live, you'll drop the weapons and let us go!" Faith screamed at them. Buffy looked at Faith, and then looked at the Assassins. She decided that she'd go with Faith and get out of the whole situation. Slowly, Faith and Buffy inched forward down the corridor, getting closer to the Assassins. When they were almost there, Buffy looked into the nearest room and saw that it had a balcony that was looking out onto the car park.   
"Faith," Buffy said while moving towards the room. She picked up on what Buffy was doing immediately and followed, still with the knife to the Assassin's throat. They backed their way down the room, and climbed over the railing. Buffy was thankful that they were on the ground floor, or they would never have been able to get away. They climbed over the railing and walked out into the car park. Buffy was surprised that there were no police around yet. They backed away from the front of the hospital, still with their hostage. The Assassins had made their way out the front by now and were standing in a line across the front of the hospital. All of them had their guns pointing at both of the Slayers. Buffy tensed as she saw figures running towards her. She was relieved when she saw that it was Xander and Giles. She looked over their shoulders and saw that Dawn and Anya were helping Willow and Tara along.   
"Get the car. We're leaving," Buffy said to Giles. She saw him run around the hospital and later come back with the car. It was only small, and they would have to absolutely cram themselves into the car. Buffy wasn't even sure that they'd all fit. She was greatly relieved when Xander said that he and Anya came in their car. He went around to get it as well. Giles and Xander pulled up behind Buffy and Faith, who were still backing away from the Assassins and the hospital. Buffy was afraid that they'd shoot them anyway and not care about the man that Faith had as a hostage, or that they'd try to shoot some of her friends instead. They piled into both cars, Faith going last. Just before she got in, she pushed the man away and threw her knife at the Assassins, distracting some of them.  
"Giles, go!" Buffy shouted at him.  
"No need to shout. I do know when to go," Giles replied.  
"Then why aren't we moving," Buffy pointed out to him.  
"Because I'm too busy talking to you!" Giles replied. At that, Buffy shut up and watched the Assassins as they retrieved the man Faith had held hostage. She could see Xander's car driving along right behind them.   
  
­Ryan groaned as he got up. As he looked around the hospital room, all he could see was devastation. The fight between his team and the Slayers had wrecked everything in the room. He looked to his men, who were getting treated by Nurses. He could see beds outside the room, obviously for his people.   
"Are you alright?" A Nurse asked him.   
"Do I look alright?" Ryan replied.  
"No, not really," the nurse replied.  
"Well then there's your answer… How badly are my men injured?" he asked.   
"One has severe concussion, another has a broken cheekbone and jaw, and his jaw is dislocated as well. Other than that, your men have minor injuries," the nurse replied. "Are those two girls federal criminals or something?" she asked.   
"Yes and they're very dangerous," Ryan replied. he saw Rex come into the room, looking fairly well off compared to the others. "What happened to you?" Ryan asked him.   
"They held me hostage in order to escape," Rex replied.  
"Why didn't you attack them?" Ryan asked.  
"They had a bloody knife to my throat," Rex replied.   
"They wouldn't have killed you," Ryan stated.  
"The psychotic one had the knife to my throat," Rex replied in a 'matter-of-factly' voice.  
"Oh. She would have killed you," Ryan replied.   
"I know, that's why I didn't attack them. They got away in two cars," Rex replied. Once he had seen the Slayer in action and had seen the look in her eyes, Rex had made up his mind. He was going to try and help the blonde Slayer, although he didn't know how he was going to help her. He wasn't sure about the other one though. From what he had heard, she was very dangerous and ready to kill him at any moment.   
  
After they were sure that they weren't being followed, Xander and Giles drove the cars to the Magic Box, where everyone got out. Faith decided that she'd go. Things still weren't right between her and Buffy. Faith didn't want to fight at that moment because she knew she couldn't. she was absolutely exhausted from the fight with Buffy and the Watchers Council's Assassins. She returned back to Angel's old mansion where she slept for the rest of the morning.   
  
Quentin Travers didn't want to sit in that seat, and turn all the equipment on. If he did, he knew that he'd be facing stares of all the Council. Failing to catch even one of the Slayers was the worst thing he could report in. It wasn't his fault that they were too good, and that the Retrieval team couldn't get them. He flicked the switch to turn on the transmitting equipment. He saw the red light on the camera above the computer screen turn on and heard the speakers hum to life. As he waited for the connection to go through, Ryan Hodges walked up behind him.   
"I know that we'll be able to capture the Slayers. It was our first encounter with them, and we didn't know their fighting styles. Now we do and we're better prepared," Ryan said.  
"I know. I have Faith in your team's abilities," Travers replied. Ryan nodded and left the room. Quentin had just started to explore an idea he had when the connection to the Council was put through.   
  
They all watched as Quentin Travers' face appeared on the wall to wall screen. The look on his face immediately told them all that the capture mission was not a success. Among them sat the master magician that had journeyed to Sunnydale.   
"The mission was not a success. The Slayers escaped. We lost one man. He won't be able to fight until his injuries heal," Travers said to them all.   
"We know. We were expecting them to fail the first time. However, we need the Slayers soon, and most importantly of all, we need them both alive and here within the next couple of days," one of the men said to Travers.   
"What is going to happen to them over there? I thought the whole idea was to kill the Slayer Faith to get another Slayer that is in our control, hopefully, and to remove B…" Travers started.   
"Plans change," a woman said, who sat near the head of the table.   
"I fear that we are loosing more than we are gaining. We are just wasting the Council's resources on this," Travers said. "For too long the Council has been perverted by these two Slayers. We need a disciplined and well trained Slayer that will follow our orders," Travers said, the conversation getting heated.   
"Yes, and hopefully, soon, that will be corrected," the woman said to Travers.   
"If you can not capture the Slayers using your current methods; change them," the magician said to Travers. "Do whatever is possible to get the Slayers in your possession and get them here."   
"Okay, I will," Travers said just before the connection was closed.   
"Do you think he can really get them here?" The woman asked the rest of the council.  
"He must. If he doesn't, our future will be ruined," another man said to everyone. There was a long silence as everyone thought about the possibility of loosing the war that they were waging.   
  
Buffy sat on a chair that was pulled up at the large, round research table inside the Magic Box. Around the table sat, Xander, Anya, Willow, Tara and Dawn. Giles was standing.   
"Why didn't you tell us?" Giles asked. There was a short pause as Buffy thought.   
"You didn't need to know. I knew that it would hurt you like this," Buffy said while looking at Willow.   
"What was it like?" Anya asked. "Were there any floaty angels and such?" Buffy didn't even bother to reply to the second part of the question. Slowly, she replied.  
"I was happy. I was loved. Complete. I knew that everyone was okay. I was me, but at the same time, I wasn't… I-I have to go," Buffy said while walking away, into the back room. Willow immediately got up to follow her, but Giles signalled her to stay.   
"Whys she sad?" Anya asked. No one answered for a while, and Giles had an idea why.   
"I would imagine that it would be a daunting experience for Buffy coming back to the real world. She was in heaven, and then she came back and had to experience all the faults of living. Which at the moment, far out weigh the privileges. I am extremely surprised that Buffy hasn't killed herself," Giles explained slowly: as he figured it out.   
"Giles! Don't say that," Willow exclaimed. "Buffy would never kill herself."  
"Under the circumstances, anyone would be likely to kill themselves," Giles replied. Everyone was silent in shock, no one daring to speak. "The most we can do for her is to be there. Support her." For the rest of the morning, they all talked about ways to help Buffy along, and how to keep her alive. They only checked on her once, and thankfully, she was still in the training room.   
  
Faith found the door ajar, just as it was before. Knowing what was inside, Faith entered the apartment. To her shock, everything was how it should have been, before Michael was killed. She looked to where his body was meant to be, and there was nothing. Not even any blood stains on the carpet. She looked to the window, which before had a bullet hole in it. It was fine now. Faith couldn't figure out what was going on. She checked the rest of his apartment, and found all his valuable things were missing. As she came back into the main room, from the one and only hallway in the apartment, she saw a man. He was standing with his arms crossed, looking at Faith.   
"Who are you?" Faith asked. The man just stood there and continued to stare at Faith. "Who are you!" Faith demanded. Still, the man stared at her. "Do you want me to beat it out of you?" Faith said, menacing the man while quickly moving towards him.   
"I'm the man that killed your man, the man that was living here," he said.   
"Speak English," Faith said, getting very impatient. The man rolled his eyes.  
"I killed the person that was living here," he repeated.  
  
  
  
Somewhere in the American Mid-West. 200 AD  
  
He and his men crept through the forest, being as quiet as possible. Before them, they saw their village being burnt to the ground by an attacking tribe. He was the Shaman of the tribe that was being attacked. Next to him was the chief, and behind him, there were fifteen of the village's best warriors. He and the Chief were leading the counterattack against the attacking tribe. He told his men to spread out in a line across the forest. They were going to try and counterattack soon. When he saw that his men were in place, he got up and yelled. His men did so as well.   
  
Not ten minutes had passed before he couldn't see any of his men. He had seen some of them cut down in the first couple of minutes, but the rest survived and fought right along side him. He turned around only to see a person running straight at him with a short knife. He turned around and stuck his foot out, and as the man tripped, he put his own knife into the man's neck, killing him. It was then he realised that all his men were dead, in a circle around him; the closest was the chief. He saw all the members of the attacking tribe in a circle around him. He knew that they wanted to take him alive. All the tribes of the land had heard of the white shaman, who was rumoured to have more power than the local shamans. This tribe obviously wanted him for themselves: to improve their reputation with other tribes by saying that they had captured the white Shaman.   
He had been in the new land for twenty years, wanting to escape the wrath of the Romans, who were coming towards his island country. He and his crew built a ship, not very much different than the ships they had seen the Scandinavians build. They sailed across the ocean and crashed upon the shores of a strange, new land. Slowly, one by one, his crewmates died out, and it was only through magick that he had survived as long as he had. The Shaman of the nearest tribe had sensed his magickal abilities, and the tribe came looking for him. When their Shaman, an old and feeble man, died, they gave the position to him. He had been the tribe's shaman for nineteen years, and had acquired a rather large reputation. The magicks he used were very different than the magicks of the local population, and he had guessed that was why he was said to be so powerful.  
He had dreamt about his past, and when he woke up, he was dangling upside down. His hands and feet were attached to a large branch, which was carried by two men. Slowly, he slid his knife that he had managed to keep with him from his homeland: an actual metal knife. He cut off his hand restraints and then just as quickly, he cut off his foot restraints. The two men turned around to face him, but they were mesmerised by his metal knife. He stabbed the man in front of him, and then turned the knife around in his hand so the blade was along his arm and spun around and cut the other man deeply across the chest. He fell to the ground clutching the wound. He grabbed everything he needed from the two men and ran off into the forest.   
  
For a year he wondered the forest, trying to find his way to any form of civilisation. After a year he gave up, and decided to settle into the forest and spend the rest of his years alone. He had committed a number of inhumane crimes back in his homeland as a practitioner of magick. Most of them were in the early years, when he had tried to harness a Dark God, and then later, tried to control him. He was sent insane by the God, but is wore off. During that time, he had killed many and tortured even more. When he received news that the Romans were coming, he decided to leave. He didn't need the land to be ruled by Christians that looked down on his kind.   
He spent most of his free time delving into the arts of magick. He became very powerful after five years of almost pure study. Fifty years later, he began his travels again. He very well knew that he hadn't aged as he kept an advanced calendar of the days by using the positions of the stars and the moon and sun. He looked and felt as good as he did the day he was captured. He knew how he had come to be like this, but he would never tell anyone. He journeyed south, where he met a race of people more advanced than the tribe he had been a member of. They called themselves the Inca, and in their view, he was a god.   
  
Faith was now looking at this man, disgusted. He had killed the one person that understood her. He had killed the only person that was there to listen. In Faith's eyes, that deserved vengeance. In a second she had closed the distance between them. She punched him in the midsection and he bent over. She grabbed his nose between her index and middle finger and squeezed as hard as she could. Blood seeped out of his nose as Faith slowly crushed it. She was just about to ask the man who he was again when she was kneed in the gut. In a flash, he had knocked Faith's hand off of his nose and was standing, ready to fight Faith.   
"Do you know who I am?" Faith asked him. The man didn't reply. "I'll tell you. I'm the one that's gonna put your ass in the ground!" With that, the man approached her. He punched at he head with his right hand, and Faith caught his arm with her left hand. She knocked it out of the way, but already his left hand was coming for her face. It hit Faith in the head, snapping her head back. She was forced to back away from the man. He was quick, and strong. Almost as fast and as strong as her, but not fast enough. Faith took up a fighting stance: side on with both feet shoulder width apart. She raised her arms up in fists. She signalled for the man to come at her, and he did, over confidant. Faith punched out with her closest hand, but brought it back before it could hit anything. She was testing his reflexes, and they were good. Then, she sidestepped forward, towards the man, and delivered a snap kick with the leg that was closest to him. To her surprise, he caught it and held on tight. Before he had a chance to let go, Faith anchored her foot in his hands, leapt and twisted her midsection towards him. Her other foot twisted around and hit the man directly in the head, sending him crashing into the wall, unconscious. Faith fell to the ground and when she got up, looked at the man sprawled on the ground. Slowly, she smiled to herself. She wasn't going to give this man any mercy. 


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Incan Temple. Somewhere around 1540 AD  
  
He liked being one of the Gods of the Incas. They would give him whatever he wanted, as long as he gave his people good fortune, which was easily done with magick. Word had arisen among the townspeople that there were now other white men in the land, and that they had come in great ships. He didn't worry too much about this, until he heard that the men carried sticks of thunder that would strike down others, and that the men were moving across the country, in his direction. For the next two weeks, he had his people prepare to fight the invaders. He trained them, and helped them make sufficient weapons. He taught the local priests some magick, which they thought were divine acts that he let them perform. A week after his town was ready, they came. They came in large, large numbers, and all of them had the sticks of thunder that he had heard about. Realising that there was no possible way to win the fight, he called for everyone to evacuate and flee into the forest, however he stayed behind. He watched as they all ran past him, fleeing for their lives. He, and a few of the town's bravest and best warriors would stand up to the invaders. Turning his head, he saw twenty men, all armed to the teeth, standing behind him, ready to charge on his word. He looked ahead and saw the invaders coming through the village, burning and pillaging anything they could. "Finally, Rome has found this new land," the man whispered to himself. He watched as the small band of invaders marched his way. He was surprised when, what was obviously their chief, told them to stop. The two races stood facing each other, each ready to charge and kill as many of the others as they could. He stood, looking at the invaders' commander. He was a large, fit man, who wore what only looked like light armour. The leader walked up to him and said something that he could only just interpret. After five minutes of thinking, he realised that the commander was speaking a form of morphed Spanish to him. He remembered the mighty nation of the Spanish. It was a great and proud people, before the Romans came and conquered them. From what he had heard when he was back in his homeland, the Spaniards liked being ruled under the Romans, and he could never understand that. He spoke back to the commander in his native tongue: Gaelic. He saw that the commander realised that he was speaking Gaelic, and called another man forward. They talked between themselves for a bit, and then the man stood beside his commander, looking at him. The commander said something, and the man repeated it in Gaelic. "At last, we get to meet the mighty white god," the commander said. A look of surprise crossed the immortal magician's face. He was surprised that the invaders had heard of him. "Finally, Rome has found the new land," he said after a while. The commander looked confused. "Rome fell, a very long time ago. We are Spaniards," the commander replied. "Now step aside and we will let your people live." "No!" he replied, thinking that they were going to kill his people. He raised a hand and spread his palm out, and faced it towards the commander. He flew back and landed amongst his warriors. When the commander got up, he could see the rage in his face. He saw the commander order the warriors to advance on his people. He raised his palm and the air in front of the warriors started to shimmer and blur. They ran into an invisible wall. From what he could see, the commander had a complete look of shock on his face. He watched as the invaders knelt down on one knee and pointed something at him and his warriors. He guessed that they were the mighty sticks of thunder that he had heard about. He was confident that they wouldn't get through his wall. They pointed the sticks at his men and then they exploded in a loud bang. He watched as his wall shattered and his men fell to the ground. Three quarters of them were dead, blood spurting from their heads, and some without what could be called a head. He saw the invaders run forward. He raised his palm to make another wall, but one of the men was too fast and shot the stick of thunder at him. He immediately raised his hand to where the stick of thunder had hit him; in the stomach. There was a gaping wound there and blood was pouring out of it. He did the only thing he knew how to do, and pushed all the men back, sending them flying thirty metres. He turned and ran, and so did his remaining men. He had become weak in his days as a 'god'. Only using magick to impress his people, and to give them good fortune. He hadn't practiced the other areas of magick, therefore becoming weak. He ran through the forest, and he didn't know when he stopped, but when he woke up, he was surrounded by his men, dead on the ground. He felt a wound in the back of his neck, and realised that he had been hit with one of the sticks of thunder. He wondered why he wasn't dead like the rest of his men, but then he remembered. He was immortal. He had forgotten that, and over the last hundred years, he had taken his everlasting life for granted. He realised that he couldn't die, and that he just had 'died' but his immortality had brought him back to life. For the first time in his life, he was glad he had spent all those years in the forest.  
  
He had fought bravely beside the people that had come to know him as a god, but ultimately, he failed. The invaders were winning, and he could do nothing about it. He had journeyed all throughout the new land, raising support for an army to be created by all the civilisations of the land he now called home. Nothing would happen, slowly, the Spaniards, as they like to call themselves, were overrunning them. He realised that he would have to go back to his real home in order to find out how to defeat them. And so he did. At the dead of night, he snuck onto one of their ships and journeyed back to his home land.  
  
He arrived back, in the nation that called itself England. This was where he was originally from, and the land had changed greatly. For years he journeyed the land, seeking knowledge about all the weapons that had developed while he was gone. He learnt battle strategies and learnt how to command an army. He was disgusted with how many creatures of the night there were in his homeland. Then, one night, he learnt of a true Warrior that roamed the land and destroyed the creatures. Perhaps he could get the Warrior to come back with him and help free his people. He sought the warrior out, and when he found her, was very surprised. He had not known of Slayers before. He had met one, in 1600 AD in London. She was helping to free a woman from the creatures of the night. When he watched her, he saw how good she was, and recognised something inside of her. It was a spark. He then realised that this Warrior didn't choose to fight against the creatures of the night, but the fight was thrust upon her. She was chosen by the highest power to fight against these creatures. He decided he had to know more about the warrior: he had to feed his craving for knowledge about her. After learning that Europe had started colonising his home land, which they called the 'New World', he gave up hope. There was no possible way he could fend off the people of Europe. He gave up on his people, hoping that they would get a decent life. Instead, he adopted himself a name, which he had learnt he needed over here. He found out about the Watchers Council, and recruited himself. After learning all the arcane lore that he had to know, he became a Watcher. Slowly, he ascended the ranks of the Watchers Council, learning of various schemes that only the highest knew of. He masked his identity well, slowly creating the illusion of ageing on his body. He wasn't, and he could see that he wasn't, but everyone else thought so. When it came time for him to die, he faked his own death, and created another profile in the Council's records at the rank he was at. This all lasted until 1900 AD when the leader of the Council found him out. He was then recruited by the Council Leaders to go undercover, and do their jobs for them. He agreed, as long as he was able to sit in on the meetings of the Inner Council.  
  
Faith stood before this man now. He was sitting in a wooden chair with his hands tied behind his back, and his feet tied to the chair. Faith just stood and stared at him. She watched as he slowly regained consciousness. When he was fully awake, Faith just stared at him. "You know, these restraints aren't going to hold me," he said to her. "Wanna bet?" Faith replied to him. With a quick blur, the man was out of the restraints and running towards Faith. Faith put her right leg on the couch that was near her, and jumped off of it, and swung her leg at what appeared to be thin air. In the last second, his head appeared in Faith's foot's path. It hit him right on the side of the head, and sent him crashing to Faith's left. She watched as his head slammed into the wall again, knocking him unconscious, yet again. He was only out of it for ten minutes this time. And in that time, Faith had found chains and had tied his hands together with the chains, and locked them together. She also locked one of his legs to the chair, the other to the security screen on one of Michael's windows. Faith saw him look up, and was utterly disgusted by what she saw. She backhanded him across the face. He just recovered and looked at her again. "What's your name?" Faith asked coldly. "Why should I tell you?" The man asked her. "Oh, I don't know. I'm only the one that's holding you prisoner, and is ready to kill you," Faith replied in a sarcastic voice. "What's your name?" Faith asked again, the rage evident in her voice. The man just grinned at her, and before long, Faith punched him in the nose. "Name?" She stated simply. The man said nothing. Faith punched him again. "Name!" she said again. He still didn't say anything. She punched him again, but this time, when his head snapped back, she punched him again, harder. She was sure that she had broken his nose by now. "Name?" she asked simply again. "Ok-Ok-Ok. I'll tell you," the man said desperately. He expected an answer from Faith, but didn't get any, so he continued. "M-My name is. Santa," the man said. "Last name?" Faith bluntly asked. "Claus," the man replied. "It's going to take a lot more than that to make me confess." "That's it," Faith said while walking away from Michael to the kitchen. She pulled out a large kitchen knife from the draws. She turned the gas stove onto it's highest and put the blade against it. She waited until it was red hot and ready to melt, and then returned back to the man. "You really want to know something?" Faith asked him, but didn't expect an answer. "I love this part." She plunged the red hot blade into the man's leg and let it sit there for a minute. She pulled the blade out and waited for the man to stop screaming. She put the blade up against the wound and seared the skin around it, effectively closing the wound. She waited for him to recover. "Name?" she asked again. "Charles," the man replied. "Other name?" Faith asked. "Edmond Smith," the man replied. "Who do you work for," Faith asked him. "T-Th-The Council," he replied. With a fit of rage, Faith threw the knife against the wall. It didn't stick in, but it made a rather large indentation in the wall after it bounced off. She charged out of the room and left Charles Edmond Smith behind.  
  
At the Magic Box, everyone had been alone with their thoughts for a while. Buffy was in the back room, while everyone else was spread out through the front of the shop. Giles knew that they were all thinking about what had happened to Buffy: What they had done. He knew now, more than ever, Willow was agreeing with what he said before to them, about bringing Buffy back was stupid and dangerous. He looked at her, and watched as she limped around the bookshelves. That was another thing that had come to his mind. He had wondered how Willow and Tara had gotten hurt. He called everyone over to the round table. "Willow? Tara? Could you please tell us how you got hurt?" Giles calmly asked both of them. After a long wait, Willow was the first to reply. "When we were in the astral together. I felt something, wrong, with me, Tara, Xander, Anya and Buffy. I don't know what it is. Me and Tara decided to go into the astral planes again, to try and find out. At the oracles. When we got there, there was no one there. But then, the land shifted, and we were surrounded by demons," she started. "We held them off, but I got cut. I don't know what happened after that," Tara said. Everyone looked to Willow. "When I saw Tara get cut across the throat, I went ballistic. I couldn't tell the difference from anything. The only thing that mattered was Tara and keeping her safe. I did terrible things Giles," Willow said while looking at Giles. "Like what?" Anya asked. "I-I killed things. Lots of them. Now that I think about it, I don't think they were demons. They didn't look too demony. I think they were animals, and they just saw us and the Slayers as a food source," Willow said "Slayers?" Giles asked. "There were spirits of Slayers around us, fighting he demons. W-When I saw Tara get cut, I think I killed them. I-I think I killed half of them," Willow said. Not allowing herself to think about it too much, she continued. "The land shifted again, and we were back at the oracles. I didn't know how to get out, so I tore. I tore a tunnel through the dimensions and brought Tara back." Giles could feel his eyes widening, looking at Willow. He couldn't believe that Willow was able to achieve such a thing. He watched as Willow started crying. "You did what you had to do Will. It's okay," Xander said. "I-It's not that. I'm scared. I'm scared of what I can do. I-I mean. If any of you were there then, I-I.I would have killed you and not cared," Willow said while trying to hold back the tears. "I was totally out of control." "All you have to do is learn to control your emotions, that's all," Anya said. "You don't get it. There was no such thing as control. How would you be if you saw Xander cut down in front of your eyes?" Willow said. Anya stood there, and didn't say a word as she thought about it. She slightly nodded at Willow, signifying that she understood.  
  
The Inner Council heard of Willow's actions from the magician that they sent there. He was, as far as they knew, the only powerful magick user on the Inner Council of the Watchers Council. They decided that they needed to bring Willow in and hold her for questioning. If she was deemed responsible, she would live. If she was not, she would die as the Council saw her as a 'threat' to humanity.  
  
It seemed to Buffy that she had only been sitting in the back room for an hour at most, but she realised that it must have been a lot longer than that when she saw that it was late in the afternoon. She was just snapping out of whatever she was in, when she heard shouts from the front of the shop. She got up and ran to the door only to find that it was blocked by something. She tried to push the door open, but it wouldn't budge. She heard Tara scream out Willow's name. Buffy kicked at the door as hard as she could, but it wouldn't move. She tried ramming it, but still it wouldn't move. Buffy did the last thing she could think of. She ran at the door, jumped and kicked out with both legs. She heard the thing in front of the door come crashing down, and she saw the door open. It was a large row of shelves that was holding the door closed. As Buffy looked around her, she saw that the shop was in ruins and that all her friends were lying on the ground. Xander held himself "They took Willow," he managed to say. "Who?" Buffy asked urgently. "They looked like the Council's goons," Xander said. Before he got to finish, Buffy was heading towards the door. When she got to the door, she saw a white van with heavily tinted windows speeding away from the shop down Main Street.. She knew that she couldn't keep up with it, so she returned into the shop and helped everyone get up. "How did they put the shelves against the door?" Buffy asked. "Magick," Giles managed to reply. "We have to get Willow back!" Buffy emphasised. "Where would they take her? Why would they take her?" Buffy asked. She saw everyone look at each other, all of them had the same thought. "If they found out what Willow did?" Giles said, not finishing the sentence. "What did Willow do!" Buffy demanded. "F-For her to get back from the astral, she had to rip her way through the fabric that separates dimensions," Tara said. "If they found out she put the world in danger, they would take her," Giles said. "W-We have to find her!" Buffy said. "Where would the Council have a base? Somewhere large and out of the way," Buffy said, answering her own question. "The Factory!" Xander exclaimed. "No, somewhere larger," Giles said. "More open." "The warehouses," Dawn said. "Warehouses?" Almost everyone asked at the same time. "Y'know. The big abandoned warehouses in the outskirts of town. They are probably holed up in there. There's like 4 huge warehouses not being used by anyone," Dawn explained. "That sounds like the perfect place," Tara said. She looked to where Buffy was meant to be, but she wasn't. She only heard the door closing.  
  
Buffy charged across town. It was a fair way across Sunnydale, and any normal person would be tired after completing what Buffy did in the same amount of time. She stood out the front of one of the warehouses and looked up at it. She tried to go further, but her feet couldn't move. She looked down at them, and they were perfectly fine. She wasn't standing in quicksand or wet cement, so she had no idea why her feet couldn't move. Then it hit her: Magick. Buffy watched as three men came out of the warehouse. They were holding crossbows aimed at her, and one had a long sword. They put her in handcuffs and took her inside the warehouse.  
  
Faith couldn't believe she couldn't get the Assassins to attack her. She had tried everything she could. Usually, when she least expected it, they would attack, but not now. She ran through the streets of Sunnydale yelling out for them to attack her, but nothing. She decided that she'd do something to draw attention to herself instead. She went into an extreme sports shop and found the archery section. She took a compound target bow down from the wall and broke the case containing arrows. She turned around and noticed the store owner's hand tapping a button that must have been behind the counter. Faith presumed it was an alarm to call the police. "I-I-I've called the police," the woman behind the counter said. "Good," was all that Faith said back. Faith found a quiver and strapped it around her back and put the arrows in. She looked through the glass cases in front of her, and found what she was looking for. Knives. She smashed that case and picked three knives that interested her. She put one in the back of her pants, another in the front of her pants, and she put the last one into her sock. "There we go. All done now. And by the way. When the police get here, tell them that it was that girl, or the girl or something like that. Okay?" the woman behind the counter only nodded nervously. Faith slipped out the door carrying the longbow and the quiver around her back. It was then she noticed that it was the same shop she and Buffy had robbed three years ago to get supplies to kill vampires. She grunted to herself at the thought. She went around to the Sunnydale cinema and climbed up onto the roof using a ladder that was around the side. When she looked down, she was happy to know that the store she had just robbed was on the same side of the road as her and only seventy metres away. There, she waited for the police to arrive. She was disappointed when only one car turned up out the front of the store, she was suspecting more. She had to tell herself that the cops didn't know that they were dealing with her yet. She hoped that the Watchers Council had told the police about her and Buffy, and that the police would ring the Council if they came across either her or Buffy. She watched the two police officers get out of their car and when they were almost in the shop, she lined up her sight. She thanked her Slayer training which taught her to shoot a bow by sighting down the arrow, not using the new sight that was built into the bow. She would have never hit her target as she would never have been able to get her sight right. She pulled the string back as far as it could go, aimed up a bit more, and then released. The arrow went soaring through the air silently and went through the police car's window. She saw the two policemen spin around and look at their car. "Dammit. Where did that come from?" one of them said urgently. Faith knew that the next part would be hard. She had to hide her location while she kept firing on the police car. That was the down side of using a bow. The police would be able to tell where it was coming from. She had an idea. She knew that it would be risky. She looked back at the two policemen and she saw that they were telling people to stay away. Faith knew that this method could easily hurt someone. Part of her cared, and the other part didn't. she aimed the bow up towards the sky. She had to get this perfectly right. She pulled the string back and let the arrow go. She watched it as it shot up into the sky, and then curved back down. She saw it go through the roof of a four wheel drive that was ten metres down the road from the police car. She aimed the bow higher this time. She needed to shorten the bow's trajectory. She let another arrow off and saw it shoot off into the sky. She smiled as it just missed the police car and hit the pavement. She saw the policemen go inside the shop, covering their heads with their hands. Faith smiled. She now knew that she had open house at the police car. She only hoped that the shop attendant told the cops what she had told her to say. She let another arrow go, and saw it stick into the car's hub-caps.  
  
Ten minutes later the Council arrived. Faith smiled to herself. She climbed back down the ladder to the Sunnydale Twin Cinema. She couldn't care less if she hit a Council member or not. She lined up the black van in her sights and let an arrow go. It went straight through the drivers and then the passenger's side window. She looked around the corner to where the police car was, and she saw three Council Assassins talking to the police officers. She scanned what else she could see and she smiled as she realised they had only sent three Assassins after her. She stepped out of her hiding spot and whistled as loud as she could. The Assassins spun around to face her, and the policemen raised their guns. Faith was surprised to see the Council Assassins tell the cops to lower their guns. She charged towards the Assassins and they did the same. When Faith was almost there, she lined herself up on one of the Assassins and jumped at him, literally throwing herself at him. He fell down onto the concrete, and Faith was immediately up. Faith realised that these must have been the same Assassins from the hospital as they were dressed the same. She knew that they could handle themselves pretty well, but not well enough. Faith actually thought she might break a sweat this time. She spun around and saw a fist flying to her face. There wasn't enough time to block it and Faith didn't try. Instead she punched her attacker as hard as she could in the throat. He fell down gasping for air, but not before he had hit her in the forehead. "One down, two to go," Faith muttered to herself. The other attacker had managed to get beside Faith, and Faith delivered a snap kick to his mid section, that he caught. "What the." Faith started, but didn't get to finish. The Assassin twisted her leg around and called to another one of the team. "Get her. Now!" Faith saw that the first Assassin she had attacked was up again, and coming towards her. Faith tried to free her foot, but he had an iron grip on it. Faith hopped on one leg and then in one quick movement, she hopped towards him and bent her caught leg. When she landed, she kicked out with all her force. His hands were thrust back into his stomach, and he was sent crashing against a 'no parking' sign. She turned around and ducked the punch that was coming at her. She leant on her side and brought her knee up into the attackers mid section. She was surprised to see that he had blocked it. They kept on fighting for five minutes before Faith got a blow through. She occasionally had to knock back another of the Assassins as they got up. She resorted to her street fighting skills. The next time the Assassin kicked at her, she grabbed his foot and twisted it. She heard the satisfying crunch as it broke, and let him go. He fell onto the ground and clutched his foot. The other two weren't as tough. Faith knocked one out easily by ramming his head into the brick wall of the shop they were fighting outside of. She needed the next man conscious. He swung two fists at her, and she ducked them both. Then, in an instant, she sprung around behind him, grabbed the knife that was in the back of her jeans and held it to the Assassin's throat. "You even try anything! I kill this guy here," she yelled to the policemen, who had their guns drawn again. "Don't even try to follow me!" Slowly, she and the Assassin backed away from the policemen and turned a corner into an alley that lead into a street parallel to the one they were in. She made the Assassin come with her as she walked down the alley. She and the Assassin's wrist in her hand, and threatened him that she'd crush his wrist if he tried anything. When they were almost at the end of the alley, Faith spun around and grabbed the man by his shoulders and pinned him up on the wall. "Where is your base!" she demanded from him. "Where!" Faith lowered him to the ground, stepped back, and then with all her power, she stepped forward and uppercut the Assassin's mid section. He immediately bent over and vomited. She just allowed him time to recover, and when he stood up, she did the same again. "Headquarters! Where is it!" Faith said again, readying to hit him again. "No-no-no-no-no-no," he said frantically while waving his hands around. "I'll tell you. Just don't hit me again," he said. Faith stood up and crossed her arms. "They're at the warehouses. On the outskirts of town. Don't go running off. They're magickally protected. Anyone who isn't wearing one of these," he said while grabbing something out of his pocket. "Will get stuck in place and can't move until our guys come out and get them." Faith grabbed a small shiny disc from the man and began to walk away. She turned back and hit the man as hard as she could again in the gut. Then she walked away. 


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Rex was having doubts about signing on to the Watchers Council Retrieval Team. He didn't like the way they treated the Slayers, like they were Slayers, and not people. In the Council's view, the Slayers were expendable, and Rex didn't think that people's lives should be toyed with like that. He and Daltone were sitting in the warehouse, in the section made for recreational activities. When Rex had first come to Sunnydale, he had felt something wrong with the place, and he knew that it was affecting him. So far, the only person that Rex had met from the Watchers Council was Daltone, and that was only because in Rex's eyes, Daltone was a lot like him.   
"Can ya just hear me out. This is gonna sound crazy, but I just want ya to hear me out," Rex said to Daltone.   
"Sure, whatever," Daltone replied.   
"Okay. Right… When I first came onto your team, I felt something go through me, and I've been feeling different ever since. I don't know what it is, but somethin's different 'bout me," Rex said, while looking to Daltone for answers. He just saw a blank face. "And, somethin else I noticed. From what I know about the Slayers, they should be flooring us, instead the others on the Retrieval Team can almost match them blow-for-blow."   
"It's magick… Whenever the Retrieval team goes on a dangerous mission, someone up there does some kind of mojo on us to make us stronger, faster, and all that," Daltone said.  
"Woah-woah-woah. Slow down… We been put under some kind of spell?" Rex asked.   
"Yeah. I don't like it, but there's nothing I can do about it," Daltone said. "And, everyone else matching the Slayers blow for blow. It's only experience. I mean, the magick that the big fellas do to us increases our speed and fitness and strength, but being able to block and hit the Slayers is only due to experience… I mean, I've been in this team for eleven years now, and some of the others are approaching fifteen years and such," Daltone explained.   
"Magick. Never trust Magick. Something's always going to go wrong," Rex said bluntly. "I learned that the hard way." They both sat there for a while, thinking.   
"Hey, you going to see the trial?" Daltone asked.   
"What trial?" Rex asked.  
"The trial? Don't you know? They took one of the Slayer's friends. The Witch. She destroyed the essences of a lot of Slayers on the Astral planes in a fit of rage. The Council's going to use Magick to get into her brain, and look at what happened, and then judge on the most appropriate course of action," Daltone explained.   
"But. What. This… I guess I could come. See what's going on," Rex replied. "How do they know she destroyed things in the astral planes? I mean, how'd they find out?" Rex asked after a while.   
"I have no idea," Daltone replied.   
  
In the time before the trial, Rex made his way over to the computers in the warehouse to read up on the Witch that the Council had detained. He wanted to know the background of the person before having to form an opinion about her. As he read over the files, he learn that over the last couple of years, the shy girl that had occasionally helped Buffy out, was now a powerful Witch, and gay. He saw the girl she was in love with, and he recognised her from the hospital, only after briefly glimpsing at her. Rex was slightly put off by the subject and found something else to do.   
  
When Buffy woke up, she was terribly disoriented. Slowly as the memories came back to her, she remembered why she had gone to the warehouse. She was standing up and when she tried to move, she noticed that her hands and feet were chained to the wall. She couldn't see anyone around except two people sitting in the middle of the large room she was in. It had mats on the floor and various exercise machines around the room. She then noticed that it was only a section in a large warehouse. It was then Buffy realised that she was in the Council's main headquarters in Sunnydale. She looked back to the two men and thought about calling out to them, but she quickly dismissed the idea.   
  
The rest of the Scooby gang arrived at the warehouses a bit after Buffy, having to drive and go on Dawn's directions. They had all split up and began searching the thirteen warehouses spread out across the area. Tara was getting worried. It had already been an hour since Tara and Xander began searching, and they didn't find anything, only empty warehouses. As far as Tara could tell there was no Council in the area, but she knew that, that wasn't true.  
"The others must have found them by now," Tara said to Xander. "Come on, let's go back to the cars and see if they're there." Xander, knowing that they had already searched four warehouses by themselves knew that Tara was right. There was no sign of anyone in the area they had searched, and there looked to be only abandoned warehouses left for them to search.   
When they arrived back at the car, everyone was waiting there for them. Tara was disappointed to see that they hadn't found anything.   
"Tara, can't you sense Willow or something with all your Witchy powers?" Anya asked.   
"I tried to sense her as soon as we got here, but there's something interfering… It's like, there's something stopping me," Tara explained.  
"Magickal?" Giles asked.   
"N-no, something else. I don't need magick to sense Willow," Tara replied. Giles asked everyone which warehouses they searched, and then realised that there was only three left, and two looked to be abandoned.   
"That's the warehouse we want," Giles said while pointing to the nearest one.  
"What. We didn't search the nearest warehouse to the car?" Xander asked. "That'd be right."   
They all walked towards the warehouse, but then Giles stopped in his tracks and Anya bumped into him.   
"What?" Anya asked.   
"I-I can't move," Giles replied.   
"Huh?" Dawn asked.   
"I-I can't move. I'm stuck in place," Giles said, still not moving.   
"Can you breathe?" Dawn asked.   
"Yes, I can breathe, and talk. O-obviously," Giles replied.   
"Come on, I'll get you out," Xander said while moving to Giles's side. He reached over to Giles's arm, but then froze. "Uh-oh."  
"What?" Anya asked.   
"I can't move either," Xander said, urgently. He tried to flail his arms around, but they just hung in mid air.   
"How can that be?" Dawn and Anya asked in unison.   
"Magick," Tara simply replied. "This is the place. It's protected by Magick."   
"Oh. Great. Magick," Xander said.   
"Can you get them out?" Anya asked urgently. "I can't have Xander unless you get them out."   
"I-I'll try," Tara replied. She closed her eyes and used her senses to feel her surroundings, and what was wrong with them. When she visualised the warehouse, she saw half a sphere surrounding it. Gently, she poked it with her power, and Tara let out a little cry as the sphere collapsed. She opened her eyes to see everyone but Giles and Xander looking at her urgently.   
"What's wrong?" Anya asked. Tara just looked at her in confusion. "You made a noise."   
"Oh. It's just that, I was surprised, the sphere collapsed easily. I just poked it," Tara replied. She got confused looks from Anya and Dawn. She realised that, that made no sense to them. "I was surprised because I made the 'stay in one place' thing go away easily."  
"Oh!" Anya exclaimed. She looked to Xander and Giles who were still stuck in place. "Then why can't Xander and Giles move?"   
"Um-Ah-Oh-Ah I don't know," Tara replied. She had a quick thought. "When all else fails; poke it," she said to Dawn and Anya. She still saw that Dawn and Anya were confused. Tara walked over to Xander and Giles, and she gently poked Giles in the back with her index finger. He didn't move, and she did it again, harder this time. She watched as he fell face first onto the ground. Tara let out a loud giggle as Giles turned around and looked up at her. She started to turn towards Xander, but Anya rushed up and pushed Xander hard before Tara had the time to poke him.   
"I always wanted to do that," Anya said with a wide grin on her face.   
"Isn't she just full of love and affection," Xander said from the ground. Tara offered her hand to Giles to help him up.   
Once they had all got back on their feet, they moved towards the Warehouse.   
"Willow's in there. I can feel it," Tara said to no one in particular. They opened the small door quietly, and snuck inside. Tara couldn't believe what she was seeing. They were standing in something that resembled a room inside the warehouse, and as Tara looked up, she saw that the walls were actually removable walls as they didn't go anywhere near the ceiling. She followed Giles, who was moving towards the highest concentration of noise.   
  
Faith snuck into the warehouse from a small door around the back. She was thankful that the disc that the Assassin had given her had worked. She was surprised to find that there was just about no one around in the warehouse, and then she noticed the soft noise of a crowd talking at once. She gathered that they were all at a meeting of some kind, and she slowly walked towards the noise. She peeked through a doorway to a large communal area, where it looked like everyone in the warehouse was sitting. She knew that if she attacked them she wasn't going to walk away, and to Faith, that was not a problem. She had lost her concentration and was just about to attack when she saw some of the Scoobies walk in from a door on her right. She looked at them, and then looked at what they were all staring at. Up on a stage, was Willow, strapped to a chair and drugged. There was some kind thing next to her, with its hand on Willow's head. The thing next to Willow looked like a person, but was extremely skinny, and had almost pure white skin. Faith didn't know what it was, but when it opened its eyes, they were completely blue. There was no iris or nothing, just blue.   
  
Tara looked up at the sight before her, unable to move. She saw Willow strapped to a chair, and some kind of thing next to her, with one hand on Willow's head, and another on something else that Tara couldn't describe. She looked closer at the thing. It was large with huge long, arms and it had light blue skin. She was startled as images appeared on a screen beside the demon, and Tara immediately realised that it was from their astral. She looked at the screen. She watched from Willow's point of view as the astral took place, and for some unknown reason, Tara could barely move. She looked over at her friends and saw that they were staring, spellbound at the screen as well. Tara hadn't seen the next bit, she had fallen unconscious while in the astral. She was amazed, and at the same time, terrified of what she saw. She saw Willow, with her pupils completely black, destroying everything around her, in an effort to protect Tara. Tara realised in shock that there were hardly any demons around, only white spirits fighting the demons. Tara then realised what that thing was there to do. It was editing Willow's memory as it put it up on the screen. Tara herself remembered that the demons out numbered the Slayers' Spirits at least twenty to one, but on the picture, the Slayers out numbered the demons. She had heard Willow talk about what she had done, but she never knew the severity of it. She watched in pure awe as the landscape shifted, and then as Willow, tears running down her face, ripped a hole in the air and dragged Tara through it. Tara still couldn't move. She was amazed that no one had noticed her and the other Scoobies yet. A voice came out of no where and said,  
"All those that agree to the sentence, raise your hand," it said. Tara watched as just about everyone raised their hands. "Then, it is agreed that you, as members of the Watchers Council, agree that this Witch, murdered the souls of Slayers on the astral planes, and is sentenced to…" the voice began.   
"Bloody hell! Wait a minute," Tara heard someone shout, and was surprised to hear an Australian accent. "Why the hell is this girl guilty of anything? She was protecting her friend. Uh I-I mean, girlfriend," the man said.   
"She is to be executed," the voice said. Pure fear spread throughout Tara's body.   
Did I just hear that right? Did it say executed? Yes it did. Willow!' Tara thought. She felt her heart had stop and her limbs go numb. She didn't realise that she had shouted Willow's name somewhere in all the confusion. Adrenalin coursed through her body and in an instant she was able to move. She started to run towards Willow, but she was stopped by a big man who shoved her back.   
"What are they doing here," she heard a voice shout.   
"Hold them back," another voice shouted.   
"Take them away, to detention," the voice that came from no where said. She looked in fear as the thing up next to Willow on the stage raised a gun in its hand. To Tara, everything disappeared, and the only thing in the world was Willow. She could see that Willow was waking up, and Tara saw Willow immediately look at the gun the thing was holding. Tara tried to run towards Willow, but people were holding her back. Tara snapped out of it when she saw something take down the thing next to Willow. She heard a sickening sound and saw the thing's head roll down off the stage. She looked up and saw Faith standing at the front of the stage. All eyes turned to her   
"Come on people! Let's dance," Faith said, right before jumping off the stage and into the nearest Council members. Tara looked back to Willow, who had just looked at Tara.   
"Tara!" she heard Willow shout.   
"Willow. Buffy's here, somewhere. Find her!" Tara projected into Willow's mind.   
"But? What's happening? Tara!" she heard back.   
"Go. Find Buffy. She'll rescue us," Tara said back to Willow. She watched as Willow slowly got up and stumbled around on stage, still feeling the effects of the drugs that the Council had given her. "Willow… I love you," Tara said to Willow, just before she exited the door nearest to her.   
"I love you too, and I'm coming back to rescue you," Tara heard Willow say back. She watched as Willow walked out the door.   
  
Faith was having the time of her life. She enjoyed just going full on at the Council's Assassins. She didn't know if she was going to live or die. It was just pure, utter ferocity and animal instinct. She didn't have to hold back. She had a knife in each hand and was stabbing as many of the Council's Assassins as she could. Since she came back from the coma, she had told herself that she wasn't going to kill any more humans. That whole idea went out the door as soon as the person tied up in Michael's apartment - Faith couldn't remember his name - had said that he was from the Council and that he had killed Michael. Deep down, inside her, Faith was glad that if she died right there, and right then, that she would be remembered by the Scoobies as saving one of their most cherished people.   
  
Willow stumbled around the warehouse, trying to find Buffy. She didn't know if Buffy was in her own fight, or just scouting around. She was extremely surprised when she saw Buffy in chains, tied to the wall.   
"Willow! Get me out of these things!" Buffy shouted at her. Willow rushed over to Buffy and was glad that the last of the drugs were wearing off. She looked at Buffy's chains and then stepped back.   
"Release," she simply commanded and the manacles around Buffy's wrists and ankles opened.   
"Come on. We've got to get out of here!" Buffy said urgently, taking Willow by the hand as she started to run.   
"Buffy," Willow simply said. "It's Tara. She and the rest of everyone is over there, and they're being taken away," Willow said urgently, tears starting to well up in her eyes. "You can't let them take her away!"   
"I won't Will," Buffy replied. She moved off in the direction that Willow had said.   
"Oh, and Buffy?" Willow said while following her. Buffy turned back around and looked at Willow. "Faith's there." Buffy just looked at Willow for a moment, and then kept moving.   
  
Buffy arrived in a giant room, with people everywhere. She looked over to the corner where she something happening, she wasn't sure what, but she saw lots of people falling. She scanned the rest of the room, and while most of the people had left, there were still some in there. She saw Xander, Anya, Tara, Giles and Dawn being dragged towards a door. She was shocked to see that the Assassins beat Giles and Xander down, but was surprised to see that they tried their hardest not to hurt Anya, Tara or Dawn.   
"Still some decency left in this organisation," Buffy muttered under her breath as she moved towards them. She went straight for the person that had beat Giles down. She hit him on the shoulder, just hard enough for him to turn around and look at her. She punched his nose as hard as she could, and was satisfied to see blood pouring out of it when she brought her fist back. The man fell to the floor, and everyone else around the Scoobies looked at Buffy.   
  
Rex couldn't believe what was happening. He also couldn't believe that he had joined the Council. He was the one who stood up and protested the red head witch's sentence. As far as he knew, he and Daltone were the only ones who didn't raise their hands when the question was asked. Then, all of a sudden, behind them, were the rest of the red head girl's friends, except for the Slayer, which he knew was locked up. After that, the other Slayer had turned up and all hell broke loose. He was doing nothing. He saw the group that had restrained the Slayer's friends beat down the two males. He knew that it was how the Council did things, but he was disgusted as they started kicking the two when they were on the ground. He just saw them get back up, only for them to be beaten down again. He saw the blonde Slayer then, rushing to help her friends. Rex had some hard decisions to make, and he needed to make them now. He realised that he was looking to his left, and he looked to his right, only to see a man go flying towards the stage. He heard something break as they hit the stage, and he realised that it must have been his back. He didn't want to go anywhere near the dark haired Slayer, because he was almost sure that he would suffer the same fate. He quickly made his way over to the blonde slayer and her friends. The Assassins had taken their attention off the Slayer's friends and put it on the Slayer.  
"I'm going to help you. Come on, this way!" Rex said quickly to the Slayer's friends. They all looked at him, and he could immediately tell that they didn't believe him. "Come on! I'll get you out," Rex said to them again while offering a hand out.   
"Hey! What are you doing!" he heard from behind him. He turned around and saw an Assassin coming towards him. "You can't let them escape." The man swung his fist at Rex, and Rex ducked under it. He brought his head up, only to see the Assassin's other fist swinging towards his face. He ducked it and while he crouched low, delivered an uppercut to the Assassin's mid section. He bend over, and Rex gave him another uppercut. He grabbed the assassin by the back of the shirt and pushed him towards the crowd that was attacking the Blonde Slayer: Buffy. He was satisfied when he saw the Assassin knock over two other Assassins that were attacking the Slayer. He turned back to the Slayer's friends. "Come on!" he shouted. He saw that the red haired witch's girlfriend was the first to follow him, and was happy when he saw the rest take up her lead. He saw a figure moving towards the back of the group in a crouched position. He saw that it was Daltone. Rex was surprised as he put his back to the group of people he was protecting, and he realised that Daltone must have made the same decision as him. He had acquired a broom handle from somewhere and he hit everyone that came near the doorway. They made their way through the warehouse and went outside.   
  
During the fight with her attackers, Buffy had managed to see two of the Assassins helping her friends out the door, and she was glad that she didn't have to worry about them any more. Before she realised it, she was exhausted, and she was extremely surprised to find that no one was attacking her. They were all lying on the floor, either unconscious or badly injured. Buffy looked around the room, and she saw the fight with Faith still going. Buffy looked towards the door that her friends had gone out, and then back at the mob surrounding Faith. She quickly moved towards them and saw with shock that some of them had stab wounds. She looked at Faith, who looked terrible and worn out. Buffy was surprised that Faith could still fight. She saw Faith look at her, and their eyes locked. Buffy and Faith both understood that this was not the time to fight each other, and that in order to get out of the warehouse, they had to help each other.   
  
Faith wasn't sure about dying any more. She had been set at taking as many of the Assassins as she could with her, before she even started the fight, but she was convinced that she was going to die. However, when she was exhausted, she realised that she didn't want to die any more, and knew that she wouldn't be able to get out of the fight. It was then that she saw Buffy charging through the crowd. She looked at the other Slayer's eyes, and saw that Buffy had come to help Faith out. Together, they fought off the remaining attackers, until the room was full of bodies.  
  
Buffy looked over to Faith, and saw that she was almost about to collapse. She grabbed Faith by the wrist and literally dragged her out of the warehouse.   
  
Rex was looking around frantically. He didn't know where to go, or what to do. He was relieved when one of the girls from the Slayer's group pointed towards two cars that were nearby.   
"Come on, we have cars," she said.  
  
Willow had found he way out of the warehouse, and as she looked along it, she realised that it was huge. She noticed that there was lot of junk along the wall of the warehouse. Lots of pieces of wood and steel. She looked down the end and saw two of the Assassins come out of the door, followed by Dawn, helping Giles, and then Anya helping Xander, and then Tara. She realised, even from the distance, that the Assassins were helping her friends. She realised that they were moving towards a group of cars, which she saw were Xander's and Giles'. she started heading towards her friends, when a door burst open almost next to her, and Buffy came out with Faith behind her. Willow saw Buffy and Faith look at each other, and then saw them separate. Faith ran in the opposite direction that Willow was headed. Buffy immediately noticed Willow and started to walk over to her. Willow's eyes went wide as she saw what was happening over Buffy's shoulder. Immediately, she started to sprint towards her friends.   
  
Rex was glad that they were almost at the cars. He was glad that he decided to betray the Watchers Council and help out this group of people. From what he had seen, they were good people, wanting to do the right thing. He was pulled out of his thoughts by a shout behind him, followed by a woman's scream. He spun around and saw Ryan holding a knife to the blonde Witch's throat.   
"Stop or I slit her throat!" Ryan screamed. Rex had no idea what to do, and he looked over to Daltone, who looked as clueless as he did.   
"Let her go Ryan. These are good people," Rex said to Ryan.   
"No. Duty comes first. These people can be used to get the Slayer back," Ryan said. Rex still had no idea what to do.   
"Let her go," Rex heard the older man of the group say to Ryan.   
"Why. I…" Ryan started. Rex saw him slump and fall over onto the ground. He looked up and expected to see the Blonde Slayer, but instead he saw the red haired witch who called herself Willow standing with a metal pole in her hands.   
"No one messes with my girl," she said. He saw Buffy run up behind them and look over the group. He looked back to the two witches.   
"You're shaking," the blonde haired witch said.   
"So are you," Willow said back to her. He watched as they took each other's hand and kissed each other. He was irked by the thought of the two. He saw Assassins come running out of the doors to the warehouse. He was just about to say something when the blonde Slayer kicked in. He saw her grab Willow's hand.   
"Smooch later. Run now!" Buffy said while dragging Willow from her partner. "You. Come with me," Buffy said while looking at Rex. "Meet up at the Magic Box," Buffy said to the rest of her group. He watched the Slayer and Willow run away, and he ran after them. He realised the plan. Buffy would run away, and the rest would use the cars. He knew that there were too many people to fit in the cars, even if they jammed them in. 


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
They had run for a long time. Enough for them to get back near the middle of town. Rex wasn't surprised when Willow asked Buffy to stop. He was almost out of breath himself. They were in the middle of a park, and there was a bench near them. Buffy stopped, and Rex followed her lead over to the bench. He had picked up that she was in charge of the group in situations like this. He let the two girls sit on the bench and he bent down and caught his breath. He was startled when he heard crying, and when he looked up, he could see that Willow was bent forward and crying.   
"Willow, what's wrong?" he heard Buffy ask. "You're shaking." He was glad that the two girls were ignoring him. He had no idea what to say to any of them at the moment.   
"I-I almost lost her today. I almost died too," Rex heard Willow say, muffled by the crying.   
"She's alright. You're alright, thanks to our friend over here," Buffy said while waving her hand in Rex's direction. "That's all that matters." Rex was put off by the situation, he still didn't know wether he should say anything or just let it go.  
"We should get going if we don't want to be caught by the Council," Rex said to them. "The Magic Box? That's Magick shop on Main Street isn't it?" he asked, looking to Buffy.   
"Yeah. We aren't too far from it," Buffy replied, getting the hint. She helped Willow up and they headed towards the Magic Box.   
  
Buffy opened the door to the Magic Box, and heard the familiar ring of the bell that was attached above the door. She walked in and saw Anya nursing Xander, fixing up all his injuries. The moment touched her as she realised the look in Anya's eyes, that she really did love Xander and that it wasn't just an experimental thing that she was going through after becoming human. She felt Willow rush past her and saw her go straight to Tara. Buffy was surprised as Willow almost jumped into Tara's arms and they kissed. Buffy saw the two squeeze themselves together, and she remembered doing the same with her former boyfriend Riley. As she looked at them, she could tell that Willow and Tara were made for each other. By the way they were kissing, Buffy could tell that they were ready to die for one another, and Buffy had never before realised how much they loved each other. She looked over to the Assassin that had come with them, and realised that he wasn't too comfortable with the situation. Buffy looked back and wasn't either as she saw hands in places they weren't meant to be. She had seen Willow and Tara kiss before, but now, they were almost making love as each one melted into the other.   
  
Tara had never been so relieved in her life. She was a nervous wreck as they waited for Buffy and Willow at the Magic Box. But, finally, she had Willow: her Willow. She noticed that people were calling her and Willow's name, but she didn't care. She was just swept up in Willow, and that was all that mattered. She had her eyes closed and her head rolled back as Willow kissed her on her most sensitive part of her neck. She finally pulled away from Willow, and her face went bright red as she noticed everyone was looking at the two.   
"Uh, you know, there are rooms for that sort of thing," Xander said.   
"Oh. Um. Ah. Sorry," Tara replied in a low voice. She was embarrassed as she realised that she and Willow had never displayed that much affection for each other in front of anyone before. She moved away from Willow, but grabbed her hand and threaded her fingers between Willow's. She felt Willow do the same.   
  
Buffy looked to the Assassin that had come with them, and could see that he was uncomfortable with something. Buffy guessed that it was Willow and Tara, or just being in the same room as a whole lot of strangers that he had just helped. She looked to the other Assassin that had gone with the other group and saw that he was examining the things on the shelves of the store.   
"So… Why'd you help?" Buffy bluntly asked. Both Assassins looked at her.   
"Long story or short?" one of them asked.   
"Long," Buffy replied.   
"Okay… Well… This is my story… I was a demon hunter in Northern Australia, apparently one of the best. 'Bout a week and a half ago, I was approached by the Watchers Council and asked to go on their special team. I passed the tests and agreed. I was flown over to here with the rest of the team and we were what we had to do. Which was to capture both Slayers. We were given history on you and the other one. Faith. And we were given profiles on all of you," Rex said while waving his hand at Buffy's friends. "Yeah, well, to cut things short, after I first saw you, and read about your background, I felt sorry for you, after all you'd been through, and I was thinking of betraying the Council. But, today, after the trial on Willow…" he started.  
"Trial? What trial?" Buffy asked.   
"On Willow. She killed a lot of things on the Astral planes," the Assassin said.   
"Huh?" Buffy asked. Giles cut in,  
"After you and Faith fought, Willow sensed something wrong with you, Tara, herself, Xander, and Anya, the people that performed the spell to bring you back. She and Tara went onto the Astral planes to find out what was wrong with you, but they were attacked by demons," Giles said.   
"There were also Slayers' Spirits there, and Willow killed a fair few of them," the Assassin said.   
"They were tampered," Tara said. "T-The images that you saw were tampered with. There were lots and lots more demons than that," Tara said to the Assassin.   
"How come you all know this?" Buffy asked.   
"We talked about it while you were in the training room," Anya added in. There was a slight pause.   
"Willow? Why did you kill the Slayers?" Buffy asked.   
"Um. Ah- Buffy, I'm not proud of this, you understand?" Willow said to Buffy. "But, one of the demons slit Tara's throat and, well, I lost it. I killed everything that was near us. I didn't care if it was helping or not. I just didn't want anything near Tara except me," Willow said.   
"Oh, so that's why…" Buffy said. She just found out the reason Tara woke up with the slit throat. There was another silence, and then Buffy remembered the original point of the conversation. "So, back to your story?"   
'Oh, yeah. Well, after I saw on the screen what happened, I knew that the Council was being biased. I saw that Willow only wanted to protect her friend. I mean, girlfriend, and I didn't like that the Council was going to kill her just for that…" he started.   
"You're the one that shouted out," Tara said.   
"Yes, I am," the Assassin replied. Buffy saw her give the Assassin a big smile. "Well, anyway. I saw the other Slayer, and then I saw the other Assassins beating these two," he said while pointing to Giles and Xander. "I realised that you were good people, and, well, I just had to help," he said. There was a long silence as everyone thought about what the Assassin had just said.   
"And you?" Buffy finally asked to the other Assassin.   
"Well, it's basically the same, except I've been in the Council for eleven years," the other Assassin replied.   
"Oh, how stupid of me," Buffy said while hitting herself on the forehead. "I forgot. What are your names?"   
"I'm Rex Andrews, and this is Daltone Johnston," Rex said.   
"I'm not clear on all of your names though," Daltone said.   
"Well, I'm Buffy, obviously. This is Tara, Willow, Xander, Anya, Dawn and Giles," Buffy said.   
"Ah, Rupert Giles. I'll have to talk to you later. Some of your accomplishments are outstanding," Daltone said. Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to do now. Rex saw the broken bookcase.   
"What happened here?" Rex asked while looking at the bookcase.   
"You Council people. They locked Buffy in the back room and took Willow," Xander said.   
"Oh," was all that Rex could say.   
"So, will the Council come after us?" Anya asked.   
"Probably. I think that they might be looking for us right now," Daltone said.   
"With what?" Buffy asked. "After me and Faith were finished with that room, there were about five people who would be walking anytime soon," Buffy said.   
"The Retrieval team," Rex said to Daltone.   
"Yes, they'd be after us," Daltone replied.   
"Huh?" Buffy asked.   
"The special team we were on. It was called the retrieval team," Rex said.   
"So, what about them?" Buffy asked while moving to sit on a seat.   
"They're good. Notice in the hospital how we were harder to beat down than the normal Assassins," Daltone said.   
"That was you?" Buffy asked.   
"Yes, that was the Retrieval Team. Highly skilled. I'd say the only way you escaped is because we didn't know your fighting technique," Daltone said.   
"How big's the team?" Buffy asked.  
"Six people," Rex replied. "Minus us, that makes four." There was a long silence as everyone digested the information.   
"Buffy. Don't misjudge them just because they're ordinary men like us two. When anyone enters the Retrieval Team, a spell is put on them to make their reflexes quicker, and to make them stronger," Daltone explained. "And now that I guess we're not on the team any more, the spell will be taken off us."   
"We can keep it on you," Willow said.   
"No way!" Rex replied. "No offence or anything… But I learnt not to trust Magick. The less of it in my life, the better."  
"I understand," Willow said.   
"So? They gonna come after us or not?" Buffy asked.   
"No. I don't think so. Not in the near future anyway," Daltone said.   
"How much time do you think we have?" Buffy asked.   
"Two weeks. Three at the maximum."   
"Oh-thank-god!" Buffy exclaimed. "Rest time!" She shouted happily.   
"Buffy. We have to prepare…" Giles started.   
"I'm not! I'm resting!" Buffy said, excitedly. She got up and literally jumped around.   
"Uhhh, Buff. What's with the little girl act?" Xander asked her.   
"I get rest!" Buffy replied.   
"We gathered that," Dawn said from the corner. She had been observing the meeting quietly.   
"Why so happy about it?" Anya asked.   
"Oh. You don't get it do you?" Buffy asked everyone urgently. "I get rest. I've never gotten rest since I came back. It was just like 'outta-the-grave, go-and-fight'," Buffy said. All the Scoobies dropped their mouths.   
"Oh!" They all said in unison.   
"I'm sorry Buffy. I didn't realise," Willow said to her.   
"No, it's fine," Buffy said. "I'm looking forward to this. Hanging at the Bronze… Oh!" Buffy exclaimed.   
"What is it Buff?" Xander asked.   
"We gotta have a vidfest! Have everyone over!" Buffy exclaimed.   
"Uh, what's a vidfest?" Rex asked.   
"It's when you get yourself loaded up on caffeine and stay up all night watching movies," Anya explained.   
"Yeah. You wanna come?" Buffy asked.   
"No, I'll be right," Rex replied. Buffy looked to Daltone.   
"I'll be fine too," Daltone said. Buffy quietened down a bit after that, the initial rush of the idea of getting a rest had gone passed her.   
"So, whaddya say? Tonight, seven o'clock, my place, vidfest is on," Buffy said.   
"We'll be there," Xander said.   
"I'm doing this too! I can stay up," Dawn said from the corner. Buffy looked at her, and her initial reaction was to say no to Dawn, but she just caved in and nodded. She was happy to see Dawn actually smile at her for a change.   
"Giles?" Buffy asked.   
"Sorry. I'm exhausted. As much as I'd like to spend all night watching movies with group of caffeinated young adults, I need to sleep," Giles replied.   
"Do you have a place to stay?" Tara asked Rex and Daltone.   
"No, but I've got plenty of cash. I'll get myself into a motel room," Rex replied.   
"Same," Daltone said.   
"I'm actually gonna go and look for a room. I'll drop by and give whoever's here the address for where I'm staying tomorrow," Rex said. He walked out the door  
"Umm, I'd better go and do the same," Daltone said as he walked out the door. Everyone watched them go, and then for a while there was silence.   
"Do you think they're telling the truth?" Giles asked no one in particular.   
"No, of course they aren…" Anya started.   
"Yes," Tara replied with authority. Everyone looked to her. "I can tell if someone's lying. The energy coming off them is, different. It's almost like the energy is ashamed to be there. These two were telling the truth," Tara said.   
"What if they're really good liars?" Dawn asked.   
"It doesn't matter," Tara replied. There was another longish silence.   
"I'll pick up the videos on the way over," Xander said. Everyone looked at him, even Giles.   
"Don't worry. I'll get a couple for everyone," he said, but everyone was still looking at him. "Oh, okay, I won't get Apocalypse Now," Xander said. Everyone smiled.   
"Give it up," Anya said while looking at Willow.   
"What? Give what up?" Willow asked.   
"The money," Anya said.   
"What money?"   
"Oh, you don't remember. In the Summer, I betted that we could get Xander not to get Apocalypse Now, and well, I just won!" Anya exclaimed.   
"That was for that night. Not for the rest of time," Willow replied. Anya was silent for a while.   
"Oh. So it was. But I want it down in writing next time," Anya said. 


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
(AUTHORS NOTE: [contains spoiler for TV Series, Season 6] The next couple of chapters will be about Relationships and all. This is not just here to show how the characters feel about each other, it will also advance along the story, even though there is no violence etc. Oh, yeah, by the way, there's going to be lots of stuff about Willow and Tara cause I just saw the episode on TV where Tara dies and Willow goes apeshit, and that aint gonna happen, and although this is a separate story from the TV series, I am often influenced to write about what the TV's series's message was that week, and since Tara is my favourite character, I'm keeping her alive)  
  
Buffy was in the kitchen making a sandwich. She had just gotten out all the packets of chips and junk food she could find ready for the night's vidfest. From looking at all the food, Buffy suddenly got hungry and decided to make herself a sandwich. She was lost in thought about what had happened that day. She was just starting to realise something, and she wasn't sure if she liked it or not. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't hear Xander come in and through the house.   
"Hey Buff? Making a sandwich?" Xander asked.   
"Y-Yeah… What are you doing here?" Buffy asked. "There's still another hour."   
"I just came by to drop off the videos and some food. I've got to go and get Anya from the Magic Box. She said that she volunteered to close up and let Giles go home and have some rest," Xander explained.   
"Oh, that was nice of her," Buffy said. "Don't often see things like that from her," Buffy thought, not realising that she'd said it. She looked to Xander. "I mean, usually, she doesn't offer to do things like that. I didn't mean…" Buffy started.   
"I know exactly what you meant Buffy. You don't have to explain it," Xander said calmly. Buffy was glad that he knew what she meant. Dawn came bouncing into the kitchen.   
"Xander! What are you doing here so early?" Dawn asked.   
"Well, you know, this house, I just can't get enough of it. Four of the most beautiful women in my life living under the same roof. Just had to stop by," Xander replied. Buffy and Dawn were flattered, Dawn more so as Xander had called her a woman. Dawn just grabbed some chips and went back upstairs to her room. "Speaking of beautiful women. Where's Willow and Tara?"  
"Upstairs, taking your advice," Buffy replied.   
"What advice?" Xander asked.   
"To get a room," Buffy replied.   
"Oh," he replied. There was a long silence. "So, what was up with those two in the Magic Box today?" Xander asked. "It was like they hadn't seen each other in a million years."   
"Each of them almost got killed Xander. And they almost lost each other. They really love each other. Coming back to the Magic Box today, Willow was more upset about almost loosing Tara than she was about dying herself," Buffy explained.   
"Yeah," Xander replied. "I'll never have that with Anya… I mean, I love her, and I'm very sure that she loves me, but we won't ever have that kind of relationship," he said, saddening.   
"Hey. Don't get all gloom and doom. Anya's great for you, and you're great for Anya. You don't have to be soul mates to really love each other," Buffy said.   
"Yeah. You're right," Xander replied.   
"Off with you. Go and get that girl of yours," Buffy said to Xander while making shooing motions with her hands. She watched as Xander stiffly walked out of the house, obviously still feeling the after effects of the beating he received. She thought about what had just happened, and realised that it was backing up what she had been thinking about before.   
  
When Xander got walked into the Magic Box, the place almost looked like new. All the things that fell off the bookcase were cleaned up. Buffy had shifted the bookcase back to where it was supposed to be before she left.   
"Anya! You ready to go?" Xander shouted. He was surprised when Anya popped up from behind the counter. "Whatcha doin?"   
"Cleaning. Everything's so dirty," Anya said.   
"Look, Anya, I've been thinking on my way over here in the car," Xander started.  
"What did you think about?" Anya asked.   
"Us," Xander said. Before Anya had a chance to reply, he kept going. "I think, that if we're going to tell Buffy and the others about us, it should be tonight. Everyone's so happy, and I reckon we should tell them all tonight," Xander said.   
"Are you serious?" Anya asked.   
"Yep," he replied. Anya rushed through the foldable section of the counter and kissed Xander.   
  
Buffy was looking through the selection of movies that Xander had brought over from the video store. It was true, he did get something for everyone. He got all the romantic movies for the girls, and the action movies for him and Buffy. There was also all the horror and mystery movies that everyone loved watching too. Buffy always loved watching the action movies and judging them, telling everyone what the characters should do. She looked back through the collection and saw that Xander did actually put some thought into the movie selection. She saw Practical Magic lying there, for Willow and Tara, and she saw a movie about Vampires, obviously for her. She laughed as she saw A hundred ways to succeed in Business without really trying. It was obviously for Anya. She heard a knock at the door and let Xander and Anya in, but Dawn beat her to the door.   
"I'm back," Xander said. "We all ready for the vidfest?"   
"Yep. Got food, drink, videos, chairs, and TV," Buffy replied.   
"Hey. Before we start, I've got an announcement to make," Xander said. "Where's Willow and Tara?" he asked. "They still upstairs?"   
"Guess," Buffy replied.   
"Could you go and get them. I really want them here for this," Xander said. Buffy walked up the stairs and knocked on their door.   
"Willow! Tara! Vidfest's starting," Buffy said. She heard a series of garbled words from the other side of the door. "Say again?" Buffy asked.   
"We'll be right there," she managed to hear Willow reply. Buffy wasn't convinced by the sound in her voice. "Xander says he want's to make an announcement, and he really wants you there," Buffy said. She heard more garbled words. She waited for about a minute, and then Willow replied.   
"Oh, alright, we'll be right down," Willow said again. She returned downstairs to see everyone standing around the front door.   
"They'll be right down," Buffy said. They waited in silence for the two to come down. "Any hint of what this announcement might be?" Buffy asked.   
"Nope. You'll just have to wait," Xander said. Willow and Tara came down the stairs, their arms wrapped around each other.   
"Glad you could make it," Anya said.   
"Oh, we had to rush, you know. All the traffic and everything," Tara said. They got down to the bottom of the stairs, and completed the rough circle everyone was standing in.   
"What's the announcement?" Dawn asked. Xander paused for a second, thinking.   
"It's about Anya and I," he said, leaving a dramatic pause. "We're getting married." Buffy could feel her eyes go wide as she looked at the pair. She was speechless. She looked as Willow charged to him and thumped into him, almost sending him crashing to the door.   
"Congratulations!" she said in a little girlish voice.   
"Wow," Buffy said. "Congratulations!" She watched as everyone congratulated him and Anya and hugged them both.   
"We've got to tell Giles," Willow said while waving her arms around. She looked happier than Anya did. She raced into the kitchen and everyone heard her tell Giles in rapid fire what had happened. No one in the lounge room could understand a single word Willow said, including Tara. Everyone laughed as Willow had to repeat what she had said into the phone three times until Giles understood what was happening.   
"So, when did Xander propose?" Tara asked Anya.   
"Just before we went running off to save Dawn from Glory, all that time ago," Anya said. Everyone was breathless.   
"All that time, and you didn't tell us?" Dawn asked.   
"It was a bad time. We didn't want to tell you all," Xander said. Everyone signalled that they understood. Willow came back to the group.   
"Giles says congratulations and gives you both his best wishes," Willow said.   
"So, how did Xander propose?" Tara asked again.   
"Well, we were in the basement of the Magic Box, searching for the Dagon Sphere, and I said that I bet no one could be more nervous that I was right then, Xander says 'you want to bet on that' and holds up the ring. I told him to give it to me after the world didn't end," Anya said.   
"Awe, that's so romantic," Dawn said. "Except for the location and all."   
"Yeah, well, Anya didn't mention that she slapped me," Xander replied. Everyone raised their eyebrows.   
"I thought that he was just doing it because the world was going to end, and it would be romantic and all, and he knew that he didn't have to go through with it," Anya said sheepishly.   
"Do you have the ring on you?" Tara asked. Buffy noticed that Tara was asking all the questions.   
"I didn't know that we were going to be telling you tonight. Xander showed up and the Magic Box to pick me up to come here and said that we're telling you all," Anya said. Buffy smiled as she realised that what she had said to Xander might have influenced that decision.  
"So, when's the wedding?" Tara asked.   
"We don't know yet. Have got to sort that out," Xander said. They all made their way over to the lounge and sat down and began watching all the videos. Buffy looked at Xander and Anya, who were sitting on the couch. She looked to Willow and Tara, who were sitting on the floor. She noticed that they had their hands joined again, and Buffy noticed that their whole bodies were touching each other as they sat side by side. She saw Willow's head resting on Tara's shoulder, and it was then that she realised she had an almost definite answer to what she was thinking about earlier.   
  
Everyone was easily asleep by midnight, the activities of the previous day having their effects. Even Buffy, who was meant to have high stamina fell asleep. However, in the morning, Buffy was the first to rise. She went into the kitchen and made herself some breakfast, which only consisted of cereal and toast. She had almost figured out what she had been thinking about, but decided not to tell everyone until the end of their two week break. Buffy had much more important things on her mind at the moment. She waited until everyone was awake, and she asked Xander and Anya to stay for breakfast.  
"We've got to have a celebration at the Bronze tonight," Buffy said to them all. Everyone was eager and nodded in agreement.   
  
Buffy waited until later that day until she asked Willow the question that would make or break the answer she had formed in her head.   
"So, Buffy, what do you want to talk about?" Willow asked.  
"I want to know about the spell that brought me back? I need details," Buffy asked.   
"Oh, yeah, sure. Well, we needed four people to do it, and that was Me, Tara, Anya and Xander. We didn't tell Giles because we didn't think that he'd understand, which he didn't. But, well, anyway, I had to invoke Osiris and Isis, and bring their energy to the circle we had performed around you. Things didn't go as expected though. Instead of me being the channel and giving you life, it went to everyone. I got asked this question in my head, and I didn't even know what it was, but I knew the answer. Then, we gave you our energy, and then, we passed out," Willow explained.   
"Is that it?" Buffy asked.   
"Yep.. Oh, I almost forgot. I don't know about the others, but I know about me, and Tara. In that moment when we gave our energy to you, me, and Tara, realised that we ourselves weren't raising you, but we were asking the higher power to let us raise you," Willow said. Buffy knew the answer to her rambling right at that moment. Willow had just given her the exact information she needed.   
"Thankyou so much Willow," Buffy said.   
"Why'd you want to know anyway?" Willow asked.   
"Just curious. It's like wanting to know how you're born," Buffy replied.   
"I understand," Willow replied.   
  
The same time next week, everyone had gathered at Buffy's house. Everyone except for Tara. Willow had invited everyone over after Tara had offered to go and do the grocery shopping by herself.   
"Okay, everyone remember that it's Tara's birthday tomorrow?" Willow asked them all.   
"Of course. Could never forget what day that was on," Anya said.   
"Yeah, and if any of her family shows up and tells her that she's a demon, we'll know what to do this time," Xander said.   
"We having a big Bronze celebration again?" Buffy asked. Willow shook her head.  
"Tara asked if we could go out, just me and her," Willow said. "So, that's why the big Bronze celebration's tonight."   
"Where are you going?" Buffy asked.   
"That real romantic place, down by the river. I've heard it's lit only by candlelight," Willow replied.   
"Good Lord," Giles said. Everyone turned to him. "That place costs a fortune."   
"Tara said that she wanted it to be special. Really special. It was one year ago tomorrow that all the weight got lifted off her shoulders," Willow said, remembering the day that Tara's family turned up. They had told Tara all her life that at twenty, she would turn into a demon, and that all the women in their family were burdened with that curse, and that only Tara's family knew how to take care of them. It was only thanks to Spike, who figured out that Tara's family only said it to 'keep the women in check' that Tara got to stay in Sunnydale and be with Willow.   
"Oh," Buffy said out loud for no apparent reason. Something inside her brain had clicked, and everything became clear.   
"What?" Willow asked, concerned.   
"Uh, it's nothing. I just remembered where I left my, um, hairbrush, that's all," Buffy lied. "You two just have a good time." As Buffy thought back, she remembered when she had first met Tara. She could barely talk to anyone, and hardly make eye contact. Buffy could see that just by being around Willow had changed her into an outgoing person who loved to live. Since Tara had met Willow, her stutter had all but disappeared, except when she was really nervous.   
  
Tara walked in the door quietly, and she grinned as she saw everyone sitting down in the lounge, with only Willow standing up. She knew that they were talking about what to get her for her birthday. She grinned again. No one knew that while they were talking about what to get her, Tara had actually been out getting Willow something. She walked past the lounge, and she had almost gotten away, before Buffy called out to her.   
"Not now," Tara whispered to herself. She knew that if she had to do much talking she would probably cave in. She turned around and went back to the lounge.   
"Tara. We were just talking about your birthday, and since you and Willow are going out tomorrow night, we decided to have a Bronze celebration tonight. Are you okay with that?" Buffy asked. Tara was surprised that they had come up with the idea to have a party too.   
"Oh. Yeah. T-t-that's a great idea," Tara said back nervously. "I-I'm just going to go a-and put these away," she said while holding up the bags with the groceries in them. She walked into the kitchen, she knew that she had blown it in there, and by the look Buffy had given her, she knew that Buffy suspected something.   
  
Willow was stunned at the place that Tara had taken her to. The rumours were true, it was only lit by candle light. She and Tara had gotten a table in the corner, where the only light source was the single candle on their table. They had just finished their meal when Tara took a hold of Willow's hand and threaded her fingers through hers. Willow looked at Tara's eyes, and she was spellbound. She could look at those beautiful blue eyes forever. She had a hard time taking her eyes away. She watched as the candlelight danced across her lover. Willow looked at Tara, and noticed that in all the darkness, she seemed to glow.   
"Willow?" Tara asked softly. It was so soft that Willow just thought that she had imagined it. "Willow?" She asked again, loudly this time.   
"Yes," Willow replied, never taking her eyes out of Tara's.   
"I-I have a very personal question to ask you… You don't have to answer right away. And I'll understand if you don't a-answer right away," Tara said to her.   
"You can ask me anything," Willow replied. She had no idea what Tara was about to ask her, but Willow was confident. She would tell Tara anything. Tara gripped Willow's hand tighter.   
"Willow… Will you marry me?" Tara asked. It was those words that brought Willow out of the world inside Tara's eyes. She looked at Tara now, confused.   
"What did you say?" Willow asked. She knew that her ears were playing tricks on her.   
"Will you marry me?" Tara asked again, while squeezing Willow's hand tighter. This time, she put a small box onto the table in front of Willow and opened it with her free hand. Willow looked at a beautiful ring inside. She looked back to Tara, not knowing what to say. She tried to form words, but she couldn't. She just stared at Tara, and tears began to form in her eyes. "Oh, no. Y-you don't want to? I-I'm so sorry if I upset y-you," Tara said apologetically.   
"Tara," Willow said. She couldn't form any other words. "Tara," she said again. The tears were flooding down her cheeks now. She could see the other girl getting upset.   
"Tara… Of course I will," Willow finally managed to spit out. Willow saw Tara's eyes snap up at hers.   
"Really?" Tara asked. Willow knew that Tara thought her ears were playing tricks on her too. Willow could only nod her head. "Oh yes," Tara said. Willow could almost see all the tension and anxiety flowing out of Tara's body with those two words. Willow could see tears forming in Tara's eyes now. She got up and kissed the woman she loved. After what Willow thought was the longest kiss in the history of mankind, she went back to her seat. Their hands had never parted. She looked back at Tara's eyes. "Willow… I'm so afraid," Tara said. A flood of panic and fear coursed through Willow's veins.   
"What are you afraid of?" Willow asked, fear in her voice.   
"I'm so afraid… that I'll wake up and this will all be a dream, and that I'll be back at home, w-with my family," Tara said, Willow could feel Tara's hand shaking in hers.   
"Oh Tara, this can't be a dream… Dreams aren't this good," Willow replied to her. There was a long silence as the pair just looked at each other, and it seemed that they bathed in each other's stares. "Oh Tara. I can't wait until tomorrow," Willow finally said.   
"Why, what's tomorrow?" Tara asked, just clearing the tears from her eyes.   
"We go out and get you a ring silly," Willow said innocently to Tara. There was a long silence as both Willow and Tara were caught up in each other.   
Willow was a bit embarrassed as she and Tara were almost chased out of the restaurant. They had lost track of time, and when they asked why they were being asked to leave, the waiter said that it was closing time. She was extremely surprised when she learnt that that was one in the morning.   
  
Later that night, Willow and Tara had snuck back into the house, trying not to distrub anyone. When they were lying in bed, Willow in Tara's arms, Tara was still scared that tomorrow she'd wake up to find it all a big, wonderful dream.  
"How was this birthday?" Willow asked.   
"Best Birthday," Tara replied sweetly. "I love you Mrs. Rosenberg-Maclay."   
"I love you too Mrs. Mclay-Rosenberg," Willow whispered back. 


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Everything is owned by Joss and Co, blah, blah, blah. You know the deal.  
Spoilers: Season 5.  
  
Chapter 6  
  
The sun streamed in the windows to Tara and Willow's room. Both of them stirred. Willow slowly woke up and just looked at Tara. She could stare at that face for days at a time and never get sick of it. She gave Tara a little squeeze and she soon found Tara staring back at her.   
"Willow," she whispered.   
"I'm right here," Willow whispered back.   
"Did it really happen? Are we engaged?" Tara asked.   
"Yep," Willow simply replied. She was too happy to say anything else at that moment.  
"Oh yes," Tara whispered. Willow just looked at her lover for a while.   
"You've been saying that a lot lately," Willow said to her. Willow looked over at the clock and was surprised that it said that it was eleven in the morning. She wanted to get up, but she couldn't take her arms away from Tara.   
  
Buffy was just walking to the stairs when she saw Willow and Tara at the top of them. They were standing with their arms around each other. Buffy looked at them again, and couldn't believe her eyes. Both of them seemed to glow as they came down the stairs.   
"I already took your hire car back," Buffy said. She looked at Willow and Tara again, and saw that they didn't seem to care. Instead, they were wrapt up in each other. "You two look extra cuddly this morning. I didn't hear you come home last night," Buffy said. "What time did you get home?" Buffy couldn't believe her eyes as Willow yawned. She was glowing, but yawning at the same time, and as far as Buffy knew, that was impossible.   
"Umm, about one thirty," Tara replied.   
"Wow," Buffy replied. Buffy saw Tara whisper something into Willow's ear, and Buffy just saw Willow light up even more.   
"Hey Buffy. We're going to just about head out and go shopping," Willow said.   
"What for?" Buffy asked. She saw the warmest and biggest smiles cross both of the girl's faces.   
"To get Tara an engagement ring," Willow replied. Buffy's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. She stood there, stunned for about a minute. Willow and Tara didn't know what to do, they thought Buffy had gone into shock.   
"I have to call everyone I know right now!" Buffy almost screamed. Willow and Tara saw Buffy run to the kitchen and they came all the way down the stairs in time to see Buffy snatch the phone off of Dawn and hit one of the speed dial keys.   
Willow and Tara moved towards the kitchen and listened in amusement as Dawn rambled at Buffy about respect. Buffy didn't even pay any attention to Dawn.   
"Xander?" They heard Buffy say. "You won't believe it! Tara and Willow are getting married!" she screamed at the phone. Willow and Tara just looked at each other, confused about the Slayer's strange reaction. They had to try not to fall over as Dawn rushed at them. They saw Buffy immediately hang up the phone and hit another speed dial.   
"Giles! Tara and Willow are getting married!" Buffy screamed even louder into the phone. Willow and Tara watched as Buffy hung up the phone and went for another one of the speed dials. She stopped and faced back to Willow and Tara.   
"I just realised. That's all the people I know," Buffy said. "Wow, I suspected something, but I never suspected this. At the most I was suspecting you two to move out into a place of your own, but never this," Buffy said. She went up and hugged both Willow and Tara.   
"What about a ring?" Dawn asked. "Either of you got one yet?" Willow proudly put her hand out to Buffy and Dawn and watched as they gawked at it. She withdrew her hand and let it join Tara's.   
"If you'll excuse us, we have to go and get my Goddess a ring," Willow said. They turned around and walked towards the door.   
"Uh, Willow? Tara?" Buffy asked them when they got to the door. "Have you seen what you're wearing." They both looked down and saw that they were still wearing their pyjamas.   
"Well that might be a problem," Tara said. They both walked upstairs, and five minutes later they came back down.   
"How are you going to get to the mall?" Buffy asked. "I can call Xander up and he can give you a ride."   
"No, it's fine, we'll walk," Tara said.   
"Yeah, walk," Willow agreed while looking at Tara. They headed towards the door again and just as they were about to go out, Willow and Tara heard Buffy say something.   
"When you two get back, I want to know all the details," Buffy said.   
"Me too," Dawn added in just before the door closed.  
  
Only five minutes had passed after Willow and Tara had left when Xander and Anya arrived. They came charging in the door and looked out of breath and had panic all over their faces. Buffy heard them come in and went to look, and she didn't know why Xander and Anya were panicking.  
"What's up with you two?" Buffy asked them.   
"Umm, we were expecting trouble. We thought that maybe the Council guys had come," Xander said.   
"Huh?" Buffy asked. "How do you figure that?"   
"Well, there was all the screaming in the phone," Xander told her. Buffy looked at him, and she almost said it, but then she had another idea.   
"Wait until Giles gets here. I want to tell you the story how I heard it," Buffy said. It was only another two minutes before Giles burst in the door with an axe in hand.   
"What's wrong!" he exclaimed. Buffy just rolled her eyes.   
"Can no one understand the language of Buffy?" she asked herself. "Giles, nothing's wrong. Just sit down so I can tell you the story."   
"Story? What story?" Giles asked.   
"Giles. Sit," Buffy commanded. He sat down and looked at Xander and Anya who were looking at Buffy.   
"Okay, I just got to calm down," Buffy said. A couple of seconds passed and then she started. "Okay, right, at somewhere around eleven thirty this morning, I was walking to the stairs..." she started.   
"Great story. Buffy's journey to the stairs," Xander said.   
"Hey, no interruptions. This story is a great story, and it's true and great and true, and, well, you get the picture," Buffy replied. "Now, let me speak, with no interruptions. Okay?"   
"Sure," Xander replied.   
"Okay, right, so I was walking to the stairs, and when I got to the bottom of them, I see Willow and Tara at the top of them. I look at them again, and both of them seem to be glowing. I'm not sure wether it was magick, or just happiness. Well, anyway, I said that they looked extra cuddly cause they were both hugging each other, and that I didn't hear them come home from their special night. They told me that they got home at one thirty, and then Tara whispered something into Willow's ear. Then..., hey, you want to listen to this part, this is the main bit of the whole story!" Buffy said to Anya.   
"I'm sorry, but this story is boring," Anya replied. She still didn't fully understand the basic concepts of humans, well, she did understand them, but she just forgot them.   
"Well, anyway, Willow says that they are going to go shopping. And I ask what for. Now, listen to this!" Buffy exclaimed. She paused for dramatic tension, and she could see Xander leaning closer, and even Giles. "Willow said that they were going shopping to find Tara an engagement ring!" Buffy exclaimed. There was a long pause as the words sunk in.   
"I-I'm sorry, but did you say engagement ring?" Giles asked.   
"Yep!" Buffy answered back.   
"Wow," Xander said.   
"Yeah, I know," Buffy said.   
"So, if they're going shopping to get Tara a ring, does that mean that Tara was the one that asked Willow?" Anya asked.   
"Yeah, I guess it does," Buffy replied.   
"Wow," Xander added in again. "Never thought that would happen."   
  
After Willow and Tara had left the house, they had slowly made their way down to the mall. There was hardly anyone around near the Summers' house, but when they got closer to the mall, the amount of people started to thicken. When Willow saw that there was a fair amount of people on the streets, she stopped hugging Tara and put her arm by her side, knowing that Tara, and even herself, were a bit uncomfortable with showing their affection for each other in public. Willow was surprised when Tara didn't move her arm away from her shoulder, but kept hugging Willow. Willow stopped and looked into Tara's eyes. She could tell that Tara knew what she was going to ask her.   
"I want the whole world to know that I'm in love with such a beautiful creature," Tara said softly to Willow. Willow could see Tara's blue eyes glistening as she spoke. Willow lightly kissed Tara on the lips and put her arm around Tara again. Tara squeezed Willow tight, and they were trying to walk shoulder to shoulder. At first it was hard, but they eventually got it. They came to the mall and made their way along to one of two jewellery shops. Just before they were about to enter, Tara let go of Willow. "I'm going to wait outside," she said.   
"Why?" Willow asked, a confused look on her face.   
"I want you to pick it out for me," Tara replied.   
"But what if you don't like it. What if it's horrible. What if..." Willow started. Tara realised that Willow was babbling and she silenced her by putting her finger up to her lips.   
"I trust you... And anyway, as long as it's from you, it will be wonderful," Tara said to Willow. Willow looked at Tara and then turned around and went inside the shop.   
  
Tara almost jumped when she heard a voice whisper in her ear. She realised that it was Willow, and started to turn around. She was surprised when Willow stopped her.   
"Close your eyes, and hold out your hand," Willow whispered into her left ear. Tara closed her eyes and held her hand out in front of her. She could feel Willow circle around in front of her. She felt Willow's warm fingers grab hers, and then she felt something sliding onto her ring finger. It didn't feel like a ring. "You can open your eyes now," Willow said. Tara opened her eyes and looked down at her finger. She was shocked to see one of the little Burger Ring chips wrapped around her finger. She was so confused and she looked up at Willow.   
"Willow..." she started.   
"Not until we get home," Willow teased. Tara smiled at her.   
"Vixen."   
  
Faith had spent a good part of the week in bed, both from the big fight with the Council's men, as well as exhaustion from running and fighting them for weeks. She didn't have much now. Not that she had much to begin with, but she had even less now. When she had come back from the fight, she had collapsed into the bed. It was a whole day before she remembered the man from the Council that she had tied up, but when she got there, he was gone.   
  
Everyone was sitting around the Summers' lounge room. Dawn had joined them soon after Giles had arrived. They had all gotten over the shock of Willow and Tara's engagement, and were starting to talk about Xander and Anya's engagement.   
"So, you two decided when?" Buffy asked.   
"In about six months," Anya replied.   
"We were just about to sit down and start planning when you started screaming into the phone," Xander said to Buffy. Buffy noticed Anya's ring on her finger, and she remembered the day after Xander had told them all that they were getting married, Anya had made sure that everyone saw her ring. She was positively sure that what she had reasoned was true.  
  
When Tara and Willow got to the Summers' house, they saw Giles' and Xander's cars parked outside.   
"Umm, I changed my mind," Willow said. Tara looked at her in horror. Willow realised what must have been going through Tara's mind and quickly added, "I want to give you the ring now, in private." She got out the little container and opened it. Before Tara could get a proper look, Willow covered it with her hand. She grabbed Tara's hand and put it on her ring finger. She looked down at it, and then up at Tara's face, which was looking at her finger.   
"Wow," Tara said.   
"I knew you'd like it," Willow answered. Before she knew what was happening, Tara swept her up and kissed her. Together they walked inside.   
"Wow, didn't know that everyone was coming over? And I didn't think that they'd come to chop our heads off," Willow said while looking at Giles's axe that was lying on the floor.   
"I-I thought you were in trouble," Giles simply replied.   
"From Buffy's screaming?" Tara asked.   
"Hey... I make perfect sense when I scream," Buffy said. Xander got up and hugged Willow.   
"Congratulations," he said while hugging her. He then hugged Tara and did the same, and was soon followed by Giles. After all the hugging and congratulations, Willow and Tara made their way over to a chair and sat down on it. Willow was half sitting on the chair's arm and Tara's leg. They both had their hands joined together, and Buffy was wondering if they accidentally super-glued them together.   
"So, I need all the details," Buffy said while looking at Willow and Tara. "Oh, yeah, you two have got to do it one at a time too. I've got to hear both sides of the story."  
"Are you sure you want to hear all the details? Because I remember all the details," Tara said.   
"Yeah, me too," Willow added in.   
"Yes. All the details," Buffy replied.   
"Okay, umm, ahh," Willow started. "I don't know where to start."   
"The beginning might be good," Anya said.   
"Okay. I'll skip all the boring bits and get right to it," Willow said. "Oh, yeah. The rumours are true. That place is only lit by candle light... Okay... Tara and I picked a table in the corner, where it was nice and dark and it was only lit by the one single candle on our table. We sat down, and ate dinner, which was beautiful. It was almost the best thing I've ever eaten," Willow said, while looking at Tara with the last couple of words. "Well, anyway. The waiter had just come and taken dinner away, and I was thinking of how lucky I was to have Tara. I actually think I went into another world as I looked into her beautiful eyes," Willow said, still looking at Tara.   
"This story is taking too long," Anya said. She watched as almost everyone's heads turned. She could feel their icy glares. She cuddled into Xander for support. "I'm sorry. Please continue your story Willow," Anya said.   
"Okay. Well, umm, yeah. I was looking at Tara, and I think I got lost in her eyes. Then, she said that she wanted to ask me a very personal question, and I was ready to give her my full reply, no matter what the question was, but somewhere in between me replying and Tara asking the question, I got lost in her eyes again. I think- no. I know what Tara said, but I thought that my ears were playing tricks on me. I asked her to repeat the question, and she said, 'Will you marry me.' I then knew that my ears were playing tricks on me. I went over and over the line in my head until it caught on what Tara had actually said. Then, I'm pretty sure that my heart stopped for a couple of minutes. By then, she had put the ring down on the table in front of me. I had no idea what to say. I knew the answer immediately...," Willow explained. She looked around at everyone who were all still listening to her. "I knew what to say, and I tried to say it, but I could only get Tara's name out. I think I said her name at least five times..." she started.   
"Two. You said it twice, but it took so long for you to say anything," Tara said.   
"Oh! I did? Oh. Well, I still didn't know what to say. But then, Tara started apologising. I didn't understand, and I finally managed to just blurt out that I would, and then Tara said her magic words..." Willow said.   
"Magic words?" Xander and Giles asked.   
"Yeah..." Willow started.   
"What are they?" Anya asked while looking at Tara. Tara just shrugged her shoulders and looked to Willow.  
"Yeah? What are they?" Tara asked her.   
"Oh yes," Willow replied. Anya, Xander and Giles just looked at her in confusion. "Her magic words are oh yes," Willow said. Before she gave anyone the chance to speak some more, she continued. "Well, when she said the magic words, I almost saw all the tension, nervousness and suspense flow out of her voice. She looked so cute, so I got up and gave her a big, beautiful kiss," Willow said.  
"Awwwe," Buffy said while looking at Willow and Tara. Willow gave Tara a quick kiss before turning back to everyone. "And then, I looked at..." Willow started, but she stopped as Tara squeezed her hand. She understood that Tara didn't want Willow to tell everyone about her being afraid that it was all a dream. "It doesn't matter."   
"Tara-Tara-Tara-Tara. We've got-to hear your side of the story too!" Dawn exclaimed. Tara looked to Willow, and then to everyone else.   
"When did you decide to ask the question?" Buffy asked Tara.   
"Umm, the other week, in the big Watchers Council warehouse," Tara said. "After I saw that Willow was awake, I said to myself that I'd marry her if we got out of there, and, well, I know that that was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, but I thought about it, and then, well, decided to do something about it," Tara said. "Wel..." she started.   
"When did you get the ring?" Dawn asked. "As far as I can remember, you and Willow have been upstairs locked in your room almost the whole break."   
"Dawn!" Buffy exclaimed. She looked back to Tara and Willow who were both looking at each other and were extremely red.   
"Uh, I-uh- got it when I-uh went grocery shopping the other day," Tara managed to say. She was still bright red from what Dawn had said.   
"I knew it!" Buffy exclaimed. "I knew it!" Everyone turned to her in confusion. "I knew that there was something going on when you got back... You stuttered too much," Buffy said. Tara just looked at her, not knowing what to do. She smiled at Buffy instead.   
"So, uhh, am I going to tell a story?" She asked everyone. Everyone looked to her in silence. "I guess that means yes," she said. "Well, after tea, I was thinking of the best way to ask Willow. I was so nervous. I was afraid that it wouldn't go the way I practiced..." Tara started.   
"Practiced?" Giles and Anya asked.   
"Umm, yeah. I sort of, uhh, practiced. Only a little though," Tara said nervously. She was met by silent stares by everyone. "Okaaay, I practiced a lot."  
"How much practicing did you do?" Xander asked. He was curious, as he had also practiced asking Anya to marry him, but it ended up as a spur of the moment kind of thing.   
"Umm, about, uhh, somewhere between one hundred and three hundred times," Tara answered. "I, sort of, practiced on myself in the mirror first, and then I practiced on Willow while she was sleeping," Tara said.   
"You asked me to marry you while I was sleeping?" Willow asked her.   
"Uhh... yeah," Tara replied.   
"Wow," Dawn said. Xander was grinning at Tara, he had also done the same to Anya, but only once. Tara looked to Willow, who was grinning and looking around at everyone. Tara suddenly noticed that it had gotten very quiet in the room, and she noticed everyone was looking at her.   
"Oh, right. The story... so, I took Willow's hand, and saw that she was looking at me, and then, I realised that I wanted it to be over and done with, so I wouldn't have to be so nervous all the time, so I asked her. It wasn't the way I wanted to ask her, I had this big speech prepared. I only then realised that she seemed to be a million miles away, and thought that I had gotten away with it, and that I'd be able to ask her properly. But, she heard it, and I repeated it while putting the ring in front of her and opening the case. I thought that my heart was going to thump it's way through my chest because Willow was taking so long to say anything. I-I got so scared, and well, when she started saying my name, I thought she wasn't ready, and I realised how much of a mistake it would have been if she wasn't ready. I was just starting to apologise when Willow just blurted out 'of course I will'. I thought that I had heard something from another conversation, because Willow saying those words would just be too good, but when I looked at her, I realised that she had said them, and the next thing I know, she's up and kissing me," Tara explained. "Oh, yeah, I think there were some tears in there too." She realised what she had just implied. "No-no-no, not sad tears. Happy tears," she added in.  
Tara had just finished telling the story when Dawn rushed her and hugged her while she was still sitting in the chair with Willow. She hugged her back, and before she knew it, Dawn had disappeared and was replaced with Buffy, and then Giles, and then Xander and then finally, Anya. Everyone finally took their seats again.  
"So, what happened after that. You said that you didn't get home until one-thirty," Buffy said.   
"We talked, and talked, and kissed, and talked some more," Willow said.   
"Oh, it was quite embarrassing. We practically got kicked out of the restaurant because it was one o'clock, which was closing time," Tara said.   
"One o'clock?" Anya asked.   
"Yeah," Tara replied.   
"It should only be a ten minute drive from there to here. Buffy said that you said that you didn't get home until one thirty," Anya said. "What happened in between then?"   
"That's private," Willow said while looking at Tara. Everyone snapped their heads to the side as they heard a loud wolf-whistle. They were all surprised to see that it had come from Giles.   
"What?" he asked bluntly. Tara looked at everyone else, who were still looking at Giles. She felt Willow's hand suddenly let go of hers and she looked


	8. Update Comming Soon

This is just a message to all who have read and reviewed "Slayers Series"

I WILL be FINISHING these, as soon as I have finished my other series I am working on at the moment (Consists of Post Grave War Cries). That should be in a couple of months, if not sooner. I'm hoping by mid-july I'll have that finished, then I'll come back to this series, and finish that off in hopefully another couple of months. So, expect to see more of this story around mid-july.

Sorry to keep you all waiting, I just got hooked into the other series. If you want something to do, read the other series and write plenty of reviews. In my humble opinion, the other series is better than this one. But here's an idea, read it and make up your own minds.

Aussie


End file.
